The Toon Files Season 9
by Brekclub85
Summary: In the final season of the Toon Files, the detectives are on a manhunt to catch the man responsible for triggering a war that has gone through the multiverse, and they are in more danger than they could ever realize. Part 3 of a trilogy of seasons.
1. X Marks the Spot

**The Toon Files Episode 105: X Marks the Spot.**

Someone once said that war is hell. Boy, if only that person knew how right he was. There are several types of war in this world we live in, from civil wars, to world wars. But there's a different variation on that last one. A war between worlds.

Over the course of the last few weeks, the multiverse had been shaken by a series of crimes. The toons of the Toon Detective Complex were also trying to bring in people from the real world into their realm, but that ended in a mysterious glitch that forced the internet critics to solve a series of cases.

As real life murders and other tragedies occurred in other worlds, the TDC crew found out who was behind it all: Harrison Reiner, a notorious criminal who had escaped from the complex because of an earlier terrorist raid. Harrison and a currently unknown accomplice managed to pull of a series of crimes that brought up tension between the worlds, while simultaneously succeeding in covering their tracks, and now a multiverse war was going on.

…

"What are we gonna do now?" Francis asked at the TDC, "With all traces of Reiner erased, how can we get all the worlds to believe us."

"Evil genius," the Blockbuster Buster commented.

"We're going to have to find Harrison ourselves," Jimmy replied, "We know he's out there, somewhere."

"But that could take weeks, months, even years," Abigail frowned, the woodmouse was still one of the smaller detectives.

"I wouldn't be so down," Tifa suddenly chuckled, stepping forward, holding her cell phone.

"What are you getting at?" the Nostalgia Chick questioned.

"I just gave Cid a call," Tifa replied, "We'll be able to use the Highwind starting tomorrow. He's modified it to fly between worlds."

"We'll just need some extra help," Twilight said, "And I know where to find it…."

…

**X Middle School, San Francisco, California, 2002.**

Even middle school, a place where most people spend some of penultimate moments of their childhood could be filled with craziness. At X Middle School, this was definitely the case.

Cornelius Fillmore, a former delinquent, and Ingrid Third, the smartest girl in school were two officers on the school safety patrol and had solved many cases.

While on their way back to HQ, they passed some students who were in the school culinary club. There was the siblings Trevor and Trina Collins, Hart Foley, and Melissa Berger.

"I'm telling you the robot should be saved for the spaghetti contest," Hart told his teammates.

"The school bake sale is just next week," Trina retorted, "That would be a more opportune moment."

The club had built a robot suit as their club's mascot, and were waiting for the best possible moment to unveil it to the public.

"Cooks," Fillmore chuckled lightly to Ingrid as they headed back inside.

"I have to get going," Hart told his teammates, "Don't make a decision without me."

….

Fillmore, Ingrid, as well as their friends Tehama, Anza, and O'Farrell.

"That new superhero movie was pretty lame," Tehama said, sipping a cup of cocoa.

"They totally got Radio Man wrong," O'Farrell grumbled.

Just then, the commissioner of the school safety patrol, Vallejo, came in, with his usual stern look on his face.

"You thirsty Vallejo?" Fillmore asked, tossing him a soda.

"You know I don't trick pop," Vallejo replied, "Coffee is where I get all my caffeine."

"I know that look on your face," Ingrid said suddenly, "You need us for a job, right?"

"E-yup," Vallejo nodded, "Some of the students from the culinary club saw that someone just caused property damage to some of their stuff."

"We just saw those students earlier today," Ingrid realized.

"Then let's get going," Fillmore said, "We have a case to crack."

As the two head officers left HQ, the conversation continued with some of the other members.

"So did you hear Principle Folsom talking with the teachers about some kind of war?" O'Farrell asked.

"Yeah, it's pretty crazy," Anza replied, "I'm hearing there's talks they may seal up the portals to other worlds for our safety."

…

Fillmore and Ingrid went out to the school courtyard where they found Trina, Trevor, and Melissa all arguing.

"What's the situation?" Fillmore asked the culinary club.

"Look down there," Melissa pointed, looking annoyed, "Someone pushed Chef down the hill."

"Who's Chef?" Ingrid asked.

"The mascot we built for our club," Trina replied.

"Dog," Fillmore said, looking down on the model mascot they had built.

X Middle School had been built in a hilly area, so Chef had a long way to roll down before it crashed at the bottom of the hill.

"Did you see anyone give it the push?" Ingrid asked the members of the club.

"No," Trevor replied, "We were all going to get things from our lockers when we heard the sound of Chef rolling."

"I was going to Ms. Reed's room to get the additional bowls we needed for the spaghetti contest," Melissa informed.

"Wasn't there one more of you?" Ingrid asked.

"Yeah, Hart Foley, but he already went home," Trevor replied.

"Well, let's go take a closer look at Chef," Fillmore told his partner and friend.

….

The two safety patrol officers were going to inspect the scene of the crime.

"This seems a little weak," Ingrid commented.

"What do you mean?" Fillmore asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If somebody was targeting the mascot model, you think they would have a better strategy then give it a shove," Ingrid explained.

"You're right," Fillmore nodded, "Why would somebody try a method that could potentially not end in this thing being busted?"

As the two safety patrol officers were examining the crashed model robot, which kind of looked like the tin man from the Wizard of Oz, another crime was about to occur.

As Ingrid pulled out a magnifying glass, several loud popping sounds were heard.

"What was that?!" Fillmore gasped, the two running towards the source of the sounds.

…

Several students were running away from trees, paint soaked all over their clothes.

"What happened?" Ingrid asked Tehama, Vallejo, and Anza, who had also rushed out of the school to inspect what had happened.

"Some paint poppers just went off," Tehama informed, inspecting the scene, "They caused a huge mess."

"Judging by the area of the blast," Fillmore said, staring upwards, "Someone sent these paint blasters up in the trees."

The safety patrol officer was able to scale the tree with ease, as he was rather swift on his feet.

"Find any evidence?" Ingrid asked from below.

"I just might have," Fillmore smirked, tossing Ingrid down the sources of the paint blasts.

It only took Ingrid a few seconds of looking at the broken remains to realize an important factor.

"These had to be remote detonated," the girl with the photographic memory commented.

"How can you tell?" O'Farrell asked.

"You can make out a bit of the company's logo on the side," Ingrid informed the other safety patrol officers, "This was made by Boom Co, they specialize in fireworks and lower-level popping toys."

"Toys today are so needlessly loud," Tehama said, taking photographs of the crime scene.

"This is gonna have to take top priority," Fillmore said as Trevor, Trina, and Mellissa went over to the officers, "I'm sorry, we'll try to help find who smashed Chef later…."

"We understand," Mellissa replied, "We need to focus on the food anyways…."

"Where to now?" Ingrid asked Fillmore.

"The fireworks store," Fillmore replied slyly.

….

The safety patrol officers were allowed to go into the city during school hours if they were doing so for the sake of an investigation.

Fillmore and Ingrid walked into the fireworks store, where the clerk was cleaning off the counter.

"What can I do for you?" the clerk asked kindly.

"We were hoping you can tell us who bought a package of the radio-detonated paint blasters," Ingrid said to the clerk, presenting the remaining pieces on the counter.

"I'm afraid I can't provide a refund on used ones," the clerk replied kindly.

"That's not why we came here," Fillmore replied, adjusting his glasses ever so slightly, "We're safety patrol officers from X Middle School. A mere 45 minutes ago, a few of these went off unexpectedly in the school courtyard, and we're trying to figure out who is behind this."

The clerk took a step back and tried to remember all the transactions from the past few days.

"For the most part, I only a lot of my usual customers," he told Fillmore and Ingrid, "But there was one person who did strike me as rather odd…."

"Can you tell us what he or she was like?" Fillmore asked.

"No, heck, I'm afraid I wasn't sure whether the kid was a boy or girl. They were wearing a grey hoodie. They walked up to the front, presented the cash, and simply walked out, I didn't even give them the chance to give them change."

"So our pranker knows to keep secret," Ingrid pointed out.

"Let's get back to campus to search for more evidence," Fillmore suggested. He then turned to the clerk. "Thanks for your time, sir."

"You're welcome," the store clerk smiled, returning to his job.

…

The laundry club helped clean a lot of the clothes that had gotten stained by paint.

"This is so not being mentioned in the school yearbook," a cheerleader commented.

Tehama, Vallejo, Anza, and O'Farrell were interrogating students who had been present at the time of the paint blasts.

"Any leads?" Ingrid asked the others.

"Well, upon closer examination," Tehama announced, being somewhat the tech wiz of the safety patrol, "I can tell that the paint blasters' detonator had about only a 30 foot range from which it could work."

"So that means our perp had to be close by at the time," Ingrid figured.

"We are asking all the kids who we saw in the immediate area right after we rushed outside," Vallejo told his two top officers, "But others have gone inside to get cleaned up if they got a lot of the spill on them."

"We'll go talk to them Vallejo," Fillmore said, and as he and Ingrid prepared to go inside, he teasingly offered the commissioner a soda again.

…

"I don't get it Fillmore," Ingrid said to her friend, "I can't figure out what the culprit was trying to accomplish by putting the paint blasters up in the trees. Those weren't even fruit trees, so it's not like someone was trying to sabotage the gardening club in anyway."

"Maybe our pranker was sane enough to know that he or she shouldn't cause too much damage," Fillmore figured.

"But what was the point of this?" Ingrid asked again.

Just then, one of the members of the school's bocce ball team went up to them.

"Do any of you know what happened to our arm and knee pads?" he asked Fillmore and Ingrid.

"Now someone stole safety pads as well?" Fillmore asked, almost finding the situation silly by this point.

But, almost like there was a pattern going on, the patrol officers were about to make one more discovery.

….

Trina came running into the school, and soon she was able to track down Fillmore and Ingrid.

"Hey Trina, what's up?" Fillmore asked the culinary student.

"Something else happened to Chef," Trina revealed, catching her breath.

"What now?" Ingrid asked.

"It looks like someone tore open the torso piece and smashed a hole open," Trina explained.

"The culprit must've not been satisfied with what they did the first time," Fillmore said, getting a weird feeling about all of this.

"But it was weird," Trina added, "The hole this jerk made seemed to come from the inside of Chef."

Fillmore and Ingrid went wide-eyed and looked at each other.

"All of these incidents…." Ingrid realized, beginning the speech.

"They're all connected…." Fillmore continued, a smirk forming on his face.

"We have somewhere to go," they said in unison, running down the halls.

….

Fillmore and Ingrid rang a doorbell at a house around a mile away from X Middle School.

Hart answered the door. "Yes?" the culinary club member asked.

"Hart Foley, we'd like you to come with us," Fillmore replied bluntly.

"For what?" Hart replied, annoyed.

"For destroying your club's mascot model and using the paint bombs," Ingrid revealed.

"This is the first time I've heard about any of that," Hart responded.

"Well, we know how you did it all," Fillmore began, "We thought someone had pushed Chef down the hill, but that wasn't quite the case. The perp-you-hid inside the mascot costume!"

"What?" Hart laughed, trying to sound like he found their deduction stupid.

"That's why Trina noticed that the hole punched in the suit came from the inside," Ingrid informed.

"And that's why the knee and elbow pads were taken, to soften your landing," Fillmore continued for his partner.

"But you said something about some paint blasts," Hart said, visibly starting to sweat, "What could I have had to do with something like that, since you're giving off baseless accusations."

"You needed a distraction," Ingrid smirked, "If anyone caught you crawling out of the Chef mascot, you would be totally busted, so you set them a short distance away in the tree tops so you knew all offs would be off you."

"And if we find your fingerprints on the bomb pieces, it's over Hart," Fillmore concluded.

Hart turned and tried to run…..but his own parents caught him.

"Crud," he frowned.

…..

Back at HQ, Hart confessed that he smashed Chef because he always thought the design for the mascot was terrible, but since he saw everyone else in the club was for it, he had to keep silent about that.

"Another case wrapped," Fillmore grinned, "Disco." He and Ingrid were about to head to their homes when suddenly the portal to Toon Town opened up by the water cooler.

"Twilight Sparkle?" Ingrid asked the purple pony who just appeared.

"Officer Fillmore, Officer Third," Twilight smiled gently, "I'm sorry to show up so unexpectedly, but we need your help."

"With what?" Fillmore asked.

"With stopping this war," Twilight said, her voice quickly getting serious.

…

Back at the Toon Detective Complex, Twilight used her magic to lift some basic gadgets off a shelf for Fillmore and Ingrid.

Jimmy was rounding up the team of detectives and cops who would be coming along for the journey. That group consisted of himself, Francis, Twilight, Double D, Dawn, Coco, Rabbit, Fox, Sly, Carmelita, Rarity, Abigail, the Baron, Bagheera, Frylock, Tifa and her friends, the internet critics, and now Ingrid and Fillmore.

"Tomorrow we depart," Jimmy said to his fellow detectives, "This is the most important job we've ever had in our lives, if we don't find Harrison, our worlds….may not be the same again."

Francis noted that he never saw Jimmy look so…..emotional before. "The stress must be getting to him," the feline sleuth commented.

"I've booked us a reservation at the Toon Town Grand Hotel tonight," Abigail informed the others, "And Tifa tells me Cid will arrive in the morning."

"Then let's go," Lupa smiled, trying to raise everyone's spirits.

….

In a different world, several portals away from Toon Town, was where Harrison Reiner currently resided. The madman was getting exactly what he wanted. Monitors he had some of his assistants set up in other worlds allowed him to get a good view of the fearsome battles that were budding amongst the worlds.

"I love a good show," Harrison chuckled, taking a sip of wine.

It was at this moment that Harrison's accomplice who had helped commit a lot of the murders that served as the trigger of the grand war stepped into the viewing.

"I got the chameleon bot," the accomplice informed, "I've done everything you asked me to do. Will you provide me with what I need to free my world?"

"Yes," Harrison chuckled, walking over to his accomplice….and then knocking him out with an injection from a syringe.

"Toss him back to his world," Harrison told some of his other servants.

"Yes Mr. Reiner," the other men nodded, taking the out cold accomplice's body and going over to a room with portals.

Harrison turned back to his monitors and grinned in a sinister broad way.

"Soon…..very soon….everything will be gone," he began to laugh madly.


	2. Calm Before the Storm

**The Toon Files Episode 106: Calm Before the Storm.**

Rabbit and Fox were doing some last minute travelling before the night was over. They had gone to the world of the elements to make a request to the Avatar.

"Avatar Korra, we humbly request a favor of you," Fox bowed respectfully.

"What is it?" Korra replied, who was practicing bending all 4 of the elements now.

"With the dawning war on the horizon, we were hoping you and your friends could protect Toon Town….and our children," Rabbit informed.

"That's pretty simple for me," Korra smiled, Mako, Bolin, and Asami all stepping outside of the Air Temple Island home.

"We'll do what we can," Asami also nodded, as Mako produced a flame and Bolin lifted a big rock, showing that they were still experts with their bending.

"Thank you," Rabbit and Fox smiled appreciatively, as the 6 headed back into Toon Town.

….

Over at the Toon Town Grand Hotel, some of the members of the crew were still awake past midnight, some unable to get some sleep in spite of the knowledge that their journey started tomorrow.

"I still can't believe this whole chaos started," the Nostalgia Critic told his fellow internet reviewers.

"Well, it will all be done soon hopefully," Paw commented, "And to think, we ended up in the middle of some multi-verse war."

"Sounds like a cheap fanfic," JesuOtaku commented.

Rouge and Knuckles, who at the last minute had decided to come with the other TDC members on their voyage to find Harrison, just arrived at the hotel.

"Phew, we're not late," Knuckles said, relieved.

"We only just made it because of me," Rouge smirked, "You wanted to stop for a hamburger," she teased her husband.

"I need a drink of water," Sly said, going over to the water fountains. But the raccoon was actually intending to make a phone call.

…

Not too long ago, one of the murders that led to the beginning of the multi-verse war was the murder of Master Shifu the red panda. He had been one of the kung fu masters in the Valley of Peace, and his death left a massive impact on Po, the Furious Five, and Tai Lung.

Tai Lung and Tigress decided to leave their cubs with the safety of Mr. Ping, Po's adoptive father, while they, Po, and the other Furious Five members went on a quest to avenge the death of their master, and in Tigress and Tai Lung's case, adoptive father. Mantis was a member of the TDC but he hadn't been able to get into contact with them before the group set off on their journey. At the same time, some troops from their world were forming an army to fight.

However, the 7 animal kung fu masters were able to find a ride in a world close by….

…..

**Wales, England, 1850.**

There are some people in the world who are always on the go. The great wizard Howl is a good example of this, as not only was he always on the go, but his entire castle was as well! Indeed, the massive (and impressively designed) magic castle had the power of mobility, which was used to keep it out of a war that was going on in Howl's own world.

Among the current residents of the castle were Calcifer a fire spirit, the Witch of the Wastes, a witch who had somewhat of a crush on Howl, and Markl, a young wizard who had been training with Howl.

"Thanks for the lift," Po said, scarfing down a bowl of noodles that had been prepared for dinner.

"Don't mention it," Markl replied, twirling a spoon in midair using magic, "Cooking spells are one of my specialties."

"Well hey," Calcifer called from his fire pit, "You can't cook anything without me."

"You got that right Calcifer," Howl nodded, stepping into the dining room, "Though with that new spirit fire I was able to conjure, you may be out of a job," he joked.

The animal kung fu warriors chuckled at that, even Tigress, the one thought to be unable to laugh.

"I can't believe that a war is going out between so many worlds," the Witch of the Wastes said, "I didn't think so many people could get so angry."

"Well….we have our reasons," Crane said, turning his hat down, memories of Shifu all still in their head.

Viper and Tigress were staring out the window. "Interesting view…" Viper commented, as the lands went by.

…..

30 minutes later, the group was just relaxing, planning their next move in hunting Shifu's killer.

"We'll go in this castle till we find a southern portal to the next world," Tai Lung told the Dragon Warrior.

"What will we do once we find whoever did it?" Po asked, unsure. The panda was never one to be willing to kill, no matter how evil the person may be…

It was then the relative silence was interrupted when Howl came into the room with an annoyed look on his face.

"Something happen?" Mantis asked Howl, hopping onto a shelf.

"Yes, something did," Howl nodded calmly, "The sacred flame spell I had conjured, someone has caused it to become extinguished."

"Are you sure this fire didn't go out on its own?" Tai Lung asked the wizard.

"No, the spell I used makes it so the fire can't just gradually fade," Howl explained, "Someone would have had to get rid of it manually."

"We should go check this out," Mantis told his fellow kung fu masters, as they had investigated mysteries in the past.

…

Howl led the 7 animals to the room where the spirit fire had once stood. It was one of the more wide open rooms in all of Howl's moving castle.

"Pretty impressive fire pit," Po admired, looking at, based on the scorch marks on the floor that were confined to a circular area.

"There must have been some great meals cooked here," Monkey added, also inspecting the area.

"No, we never used this for cooking," Howl replied to the simian kung fu master, "These flames would emit a special aura that allowed for more trickier maneuvers to be possible by the castle, even with the magic that's already running it."

"Awesome," Po smiled, being a fanboy towards a lot of things.

"So, it looks like our investigation begins here," Tai Lung said, taking charge of his group. Though the snow leopard had accepted that he was not meant to be the Dragon Warrior, he had earned his place as the leader of the group, especially since Shifu's murder. "I will avenge you, baba…." He silently vowed to himself.

…

Back in Toon Town, everyone who was going on the hunt for Harrison had finally settled in for the night.

"A girl needs her beauty sleep," Rarity grinned to herself, putting cucumber pieces over her eyes.

Bentley and the rest of the Cooper gang, who were also at the hotel but not coming on the Highwind to keep Sly's secret safe from Carmelita.

"Do we have any strands of this Reiner guy's DNA?" Penelope asked the other members.

"Sly dawg found one strand of it," Dimitri replied, pulling it out of his leisure suit.

"Using my DNA scanner," Bentley explained, "We'll be able to track Harrison's DNA to all the worlds he has been in."

"Cool," Murray grinned, eating popcorn.

At the same time, a robot had infiltrated the Toon Town Grand Hotel. The chameleon bot made its way through the hallways until it reached one particular door.

The robot knocked on the door.

"Just a minute…." The voice on the other side of the door mumbled, the person was getting out of his or her bed.

Just as the member of the team opened the door, the robot charged in, they had no time to react or make a sound…

….

Back in Howl's world, the kung fu master animals were still investigating who extinguished the spirit fire.

"Nice mirror," Viper noticed, slithering over to it. It was pretty big, suggesting it had a specific purpose.

"It belongs to the Witch of the Wastes," Howl explained, "Whenever she uses her makeup magic." The Witch of the Wastes had been given back her magic after having it taken from her during the war last year.

"We should start questioning the suspects," Tigress told her husband and friends.

"Let's head up to the front of the castle," Tai Lung nodded, "I think I saw the little one go towards the control area."

"Let's do this," Crane and Mantis said in determined unison.

The 7 kung fu expert animals set off.

….

Howl's moving castle, while mobile because of magic obviously, operated under the principles a computer program would. The spells in effect on the castle made it walk around a predetermined area that the wizards and witches would have in mind when they cast their spell.

Markl was in one of the hallways of the castle when the animals caught up to him.

"Greetings guests," the boy nodded respectfully as Tai Lung and the others approached him.

"So have you heard the news?" Po asked.

"What news?" Markl replied.

"That the spirit flame Howl had conjured has gone out," Viper explained, "And we believe that someone caused this deliberately."

"Well, that stinks," Markl nodded, then he realized that the 7 animals were looking at him. "You don't suspect that I could be the one, do you?"

"It's possible," Po nodded, "We know that you know magic, you'd probably have some tricks up your sleeves."

"It couldn't have been me," Markl replied in his defense, "I have an alibi for the past hour."

"Tell us what that alibi is," Tigress encouraged.

"I've been in the front room of the castle, Howl told me to control the navigation for a while," the wizard in training explained.

"So you were busy for a while," Viper commented.

"You should talk to the Witch of the Wastes," Markl advised the kung fu masters, "I haven't seen her since dinner ended."

"We'll stay in touch," Tai Lung told Markl, who nodded in acceptance.

…..

Po, Tai Lung, and the Furious Five went around the castle till they found the witch in her room.

"Is there some gathering I'm missing?" the Witch of the Wastes asked.

"No, we're conducting an investigation," Tai Lung clarified, "We're trying to find who put out the spirit fire Howl made."

"Somebody put that out?" the Witch of the Wastes replied, "What a pity."

"We're trying to find out who's responsible, mam," Po explained politely, "So we were hoping we could ask you a few questions."

"I see, a suspect am i?" the witch smirked, though she wasn't angry.

"Where were you since dinner ended?" Viper asked.

"I went to my room for a nap," the Witch of the Wastes explained.

"Did anyone see you?" Tigress questioned.

"Calcifer saw me head towards my room," the Witch of the Wastes replied, "I'll admit, he is a stationary fire spirit, but the way to the room where Howl made that fire isn't in the same direction, and there's no connecting corridors."

"I see, we'll keep in touch," Tigress replied, the two prime suspects had now been questioned, and their stories more or less matched up.

"Back to square one," Mantis said.

….

The 7 kung fu masters headed back into the room where the blaze once stood.

"Heh, I just noticed that," Monkey said suddenly, seeing some pots hanging on a wire, gentling going back and forth as the castle moved through the wastes.

"You hear something clanging?" Tai Lung noticed suddenly, his cat ears beginning to take effect.

Tai Lung leaped up towards the pots, and looked inside. They were pretty wide, and had small traces of water inside of them.

"What do we have here?" the snow leopard commented, picking up a small utensil out of one of them.

"What did you find?" Po asked.

"Depends," Tai Lung responded, "Do you remain how the voyage was within the past hour?"

"Mostly smooth, but I remember it getting bumpy a few moments," Crane commented.

"Then I found the answer," Tai Lung grinned.

…

Po and the others returned to the room where Markl was.

"Did you find anything, kung fu masters?" the young wizard asked.

"Yes," Tigress replied, "We found the trick you used to extinguish the fire from a distance," she revealed.

Markl chuckled, "You did?" he said sarcastically, "Tell me, I'm ever curious."

"Well, you managed to do it without being in the room to start with," Po explained, "In fact, staying away from the room with the blaze was the key to your plan."

"We found pots hanging above over the area where the spirit fire was supposed to be," Monkey continued, "You filled those up with water."

"You turned the castle itself into an unwitting accomplice," Tai Lung smirked, "Though you had to leave a few details up to chance. You filled the pots with water, and went to set a course for the castle. Your alibi is not false, you were at the controls, but that was part of your scheme."

"You purposely put the castle on a bumpy route," Tigress continued on behalf of her husband, "To make the pots sway and spill the water, putting out the spirit fire."

"But where's your evidence?" Markl asked in his own defense, "Without any proof, it's all just guesswork."

"We found this in one of the pots," Tai Lung revealed rather quickly, pulling something out of his pocket, making Markl gasped as he realized he had made a mistake.

"This is one of the utensils you had back at dinner," the snow leopard explained, "You must have dropped it while setting the trick up. Plus, how did you know what time the incident happened at? We never specified when…"

"All right," Markl admitted, confessing, "I did it because I learned that the spirit fire Howl summoned has a tendency to spread uncontrollably. I didn't want to tell Howl that he made a mistake, so I tried to dispose of it secretly…"

"You can be honest with me," Howl said, stepping forward towards his apprentice, "Being upfront is the best thing you can be with people."

"Thank you, Howl," Markl smiled, bowing to the wizard respectfully.

"How sweet…." Viper realized, "It's sort of like a family….reunion…"

The Jade Palace residents all thought of the fact there was one member of their family whom they would never see again. They knew they had to keep going.

"So, take us to the portals," Po said, the case having concluded, "We have a journey we have to continue…."

And the kung fu masters weren't the only group on one…

…..

Back at the Toon Town Grand Hotel, dawn was coming. The sunlight shined down on the world. Abigail, Rarity, Frylock, Knuckles, Rouge, Sly, Fox, and the others were all beginning to wake up.

"Today's the big day," Tifa said, changing into her clothes for the day.

"Is the Highwind arriving soon?" Rabbit asked the combat expert.

"Any minute now," Tifa replied.

"I can't wait to stop this war," Twilight spoke up, rubbing her eyes with her front hooves.

The 7 internet critics were mostly ready, except for the Nostalgia Critic, who had overslept.

"We had to use an airhorn to wake him up," Film Brain explained.

"Nice," Carmelita chuckled.

As the detectives and internet critics were having breakfast, suddenly a loud noise was heard outside.

A smirk appeared on Tifa's face. "It sounds like Cloud and the others are here," she smirked, "Everyone grab their bags."

….

The Highwind was just as visually impressive as it was when Cloud and his allies used it to battle Sephiroth.

"Good luck on your journey," Mog from the village nodded, he and Chocobo had set up a shop in Toon Town.

"Thanks," Sly replied, as the group climbed the ladder to get aboard the airship proper.

"Glad I'm not afraid of heights," Dawn said, somewhat nervous, "But I have been on a plane before, and the spirits tell me fear is an illusion."

As the toon detectives and the internet critics were about to depart, none of them could imagine that one of them wasn't who they appeared to be. An impostor had infiltrated their ranks…..


	3. Gravity Defiance

**The Toon Files Episode 107: Gravity Defiance.**

Cid Highwind, captain of the airship, explained the modifications that had been made to the voyage's vessel.

"We can now fly in the space between worlds, the space we go through whenever we pass through a portal. This will help us find and take that Reiner douche down!"

"But we'll have to inspect the worlds themselves," JesuOtaku pointed out, "Even with an airship, we can't just go inspecting one world at a time."

"Which is why we'll have to split up," Jimmy explained to the others, "Don't worry, I had Double D and Twilight here create communication devices for us."

Double D also brought the pods that could take the critics back to the real world, as they would be ready for use pretty soon.

…

The Nostalgia Chick and Francis were out on the Highwind's deck, watching the subspace fly by.

"Trippy," the Chick commented.

Just then, several other airships were seen zooming by. "What on Earth is this?!" Francis gasped.

Cloud realized what it was rather quickly, "It's ships of worlds fighting in the war," he told the pilot of the Highwind, "We'll have to take shelter in another world, now."

"But where to?" the pilot asked.

"I know these parts," Rarity smiled, "Head towards that portal…" she pointed with her hoof.

"What's in there?" the Baron asked, adjusting his hat.

"You'll see," the fashion-knowledgeable pony smirked.

…

**Casino Park, 2009.**

Gambling may be a vice, but for a lot of a people, it was a pastime. And no place made this more apparent than Casino Park. This world was filled with giant slot machines, bingo numbers, and pinball tables.

"Where exactly are we supposed to stay?" Bagheera asked his comrades.

"There's plenty of hotels here," Rouge replied, this being a place in her and Knuckles' world.

"I've been here before," Rarity explained, "The hotels offer cheap rates because everyone assumes you'll spend all of your money on the games."

"We'll have to stay here only for 1 night," Cloud informed, "To wait out the battleships."

"Great, so this quest to save a multi-verse is turning into a vacation," Lupa noted, wanting to do the heroic thing, but she knew they had no choice.

Cid had the Highwind lower to an altitude where they could enter one of the hotels, as most of the buildings in Casino Park were built in the sky.

….

"Will we be sharing a room?" Sly asked Carmelita with a sly smirk.

"Of course, Constable Cooper," Carmelita replied. The Interpol officer was still unaware that Sly's amnesia had been faked, and had been a couple with him for a while now.

Though they had stopped at Casino Park unscheduled, Knuckles and Rouge soon bumped into a familiar face.

"Shadow?" Rouge asked, seeing the black hedgehog standing in one of the hallways.

"Rouge, Knuckles, it's been a while," Shadow commented. Shadow worked for the organization GUN, helping to stop threats against the world.

"What brings you here?" Knuckles asked.

"I've been asked to guard the Ark of the Cosmos," Shadow explained, "Especially with the Babylon Rogues not too far away."

The Rogues, which consisted of Jet the Hawk, Wave the Swallow, and Storm the Albatross. They liked to ride on air boards known as Extreme Gear, and were thieves from time to time.

"We've been hunting those 3 for a while," Fox informed, stepping towards the Mobius animals, "We've heard rumors of their heists but we were never able to catch them in the act."

"Maybe tonight will be our chance," Rabbit said, looking out the window. The Babylon Rogues were over on one of the nearby giant pinball tables, doing tricks with their Extreme Gear.

"Wahoo!" Jet was heard cheering.

"Keep on your guard," Shadow advised the others.

…..

Some of the detectives and critics did go out gambling for the night, as they had money to spare and the Highwind had plenty of rations.

"I've made more than enough money at Yubaba's," Haku commented.

Some of the other detectives were relaxing in their rooms, enjoying that they essentially got another night off.

"They're still out there," Rabbit told his wife, seeing the Rogues do some tricks with their boards, and cheering all the way.

"Too bad that, if we're going to catch them they'll pretty much have to make the first move…" Fox sighed.

As the night went on and some of the toons had their fun, Shadow was heading back to his room, where he was about to discover something that would upset him.

"The Ark of the Cosmos is missing!" he exclaimed angrily, running out, just as Rabbit and Fox were coming back from a vending machine.

"What?" the police couple asked, surprised.

"I had the Ark stored in my backpack," Shadow explained, "I left my room for 10 minutes because my communicator was getting bad reception, and when I came back, it was missing!"

"The Rogues must've made their move," Rabbit realized, "Let's go get them!"

…

Getting to the Babylon Rogues themselves was going to prove to be a bit of a challenge, as the trio was still doing air board tricks on the tables, so the 3 had to use a pass to get on the tables.

"Halt, in the name of the law!" Rabbit called to Jet.

"Ha ha! Yeah right," Jet laughed smugly, he was quite a cocky leader.

Fox was rolling towards Wave in an attempt to catch her.

"Hold it right there!" Fox called to the tech expert of the Rogues.

"If you can catch up," Wave smirked.

Shadow was going after Storm. The hedgehog did have one trick up his sleeves.

"Can't catch me!" Storm laughed.

However, Shadow knew the homing attack, leaping into the air, he launched himself towards the albatross.

"Gotcha!" Shadow smirked, as Storm rolled off his board and onto the table. He and Shadow then rolled off the table.

"Ah nuts," Storm frowned, as he was caught by the GUN agent.

"Time you and your friends answer some questions," Shadow smirked.

….

In the hotel, the Nostalgia Critic was walking through the halls, after scoring big on one of the bingo tables.

"I'll be able to buy my favorite episodes of Batman the Animated Series with this," the popular critic smiled.

The Critic was looking for his room, when he rounded a bend and bumped into somebody.

"Whoa," the Critic said, turning to see who he had bumped into. But from what he saw, he couldn't make the person out.

There was some being there, dressed entirely in a black cloak. The Critic couldn't even tell if it was a man or woman.

"Sorry about that," the Critic apologized, wanting to be nice.

"Not a problem," the cloaked figure replied, as the person from the real world got back up.

As the Critic talked with some of the other toons, he didn't see that the cloaked being was still looking at him, and he also didn't see that there were two other cloaked figures with them…..

"Something happen?" Paw and Jimmy asked the Nostalgia Critic.

"Just saw some weird guy," the Critic shrugged. By the time the leader of the TDC looked, the cloaked ones had vanished.

….

Eventually, Rabbit, Fox, and Shadow were able to gather up all 3 members of the Babylon Rogues.

"So which one of you did it?" Shadow demanded to know, "Which one of you stole the Ark of the Cosmos?"

"None of us took your stupid Ark," Jet replied bluntly, "We were all having the time of our lives out here! These tables make for great Extreme Gear practice," he explained.

"Which is not their intended use…" Fox pointed out somewhat bitterly.

"Which hotel are you guys staying at anyways?" Storm asked the 3 detectives.

"The Southeast High Rise Hotel," Shadow replied, "Just a short distance away from this table."

"So what?" Jet replied, "We weren't all on this table anyways."

"Oh really?" Rabbit replied, raising an eyebrow, "Where were all of you?"

"I can show you," Wave replied, stepping on her board.

"Try these," Jet smirked, tossing the other 3 Extreme Gears as well, "Let's see if you can fly!"

Rabbit, Fox, and Shadow got on the boards, Shadow having used one before, so he was used to it. The animal couple still needed a few moments to get used to it, but they were soon able to manage.

"Here we go," Rabbit said nervously, as he wasn't sure he could keep his balance.

….

Wave led the others above the tables of Casino Park. She pointed out 3 in particular.

"These are the tables Jet, Storm, and I were riding on," the swallow explained.

"We were having a contest, too," Storm added.

"What kind of contest?" Fox asked.

"Who can score the most points with stunts," Jet explained, "Which we all know is the case for me, I don't even know why we held this contest."

"How exactly did you keep track of points?" Rabbit asked, confused.

"It's a special program I built into our Extreme Gear," Wave told the officers and GUN agent, "It's a system that records certain tricks based on movement of the boards, and we agreed to point values for each trick, so there's a built-in calculator for each one."

"Does it save data?" Shadow asked the Babylon Rogues, "This way, we can see if you all were really having this contest you claim to have had."

"Sure," Wave replied, the 3 of the Rogues each handing their boards over.

Rabbit, Shadow, and Fox all began to examine the data. Each of their boards had a particular piece of info contained within.

"Jet, you never did the same trick twice," Rabbit noted.

"I hate to be predictable," Jet said cockily.

"Wave, you pretty much did the same trick over and over," Fox commented.

"I know it had a high point value," Wave explained.

"Storm, you didn't seem to get a lot of tricks in," Shadow pointed out.

"I was having trouble with this table," Storm admitted, kind of embarrassed. Storm took off his sweat band, being the only member of the Rogues to have one.

The 3 detectives examined the location of the tables the Rogues were competing on. They took notes on some peculiar facts.

"Jet's table was out of sight from the other two," Fox noted, "He would have had the chance to sneak into the hotel while the others were focused on the game."

"But that doesn't explain the point counters," Rabbit replied, "As much as I'd love it to be Jet, the facts really point to him being innocent."

"It would have been hard for any of them to do the tricks while in the hotel," Shadow nodded, "Considering how packed Casino Park gets, there would have had to be a witness."

"Let's go back into the hotel to check," Fox suggested.

…..

The detective trio went back inside the Southeast High Rise. They began asking the hotel staff and their fellow detectives if they had seen the Babylon Rogues.

That search turned out to not provide many results for them. Shadow, Fox, and Rabbit met up in the hotel lobby.

"Did you find anything out?" Rabbit asked his wife and Shadow.

"I was able to get some info from the hotel manager," Fox replied, "According to her, about 30 minutes ago they discovered that the roof's door had been broken open."

"So that explains how one of them could have gotten into the hotel," Rabbit commented, "But that doesn't explain how they were able to steal the Ark without anyone noticing?"

"I had such bad timing," Shadow frowned.

"What do you mean?" Fox asked.

"Out of nowhere, my GUN communicator was picking up interference," Shadow explained, "I had to step out of my room to keep a conversation going."

Rabbit and Fox's faces lit up as they raced back to the roof of the hotel. They knew what they had to look for.

"It's still here," Rabbit smirked, picking up a small device.

"That's how it was done," Fox grinned, "We know which one it was."

….

The trio of detectives headed back outside amidst the neon lights of Casino Park to find the Babylon Rogues again.

"Come to look like fools again?" Jet taunted, doing loops on his Extreme Gear.

"Quite the contrary," Fox replied, "We know which one of you stole the Ark of the Cosmos."

"Really?" Wave asked, faking being impressed, "Who was it?"

"Glad you asked," Shadow replied, "The one who stole the Ark was none other than you, Wave!" he pointed ominously towards the swallow.

"What?" Wave asked in disbelief, "How could I have done it?"

"You're the tech expert of the group," Fox began to explain, "And you used the boards to help in your trick."

"Are you talking about the digital score count?" Wave replied in her own defense, "How could I have faked that?"

"We're not saying the tricks were faked," Shadow replied, "What we figured out is that you managed to establish an alibi by getting the board to do tricks without you being on it!"

"Wha?" Jet and Storm asked Wave, looking pretty surprised themselves.

"You used a remote control," Rabbit explained to the other 2 Rogues how Wave pulled off her trick, "You must've reconfigured the board to respond to remote commands. That's why the same trick was done over and over, it was the only one you could do accurately with a remote control."

"How can you be sure?" Wave replied, not wanting to admit defeat.

"That was the radio interference that caused me to leave my room," Shadow explained, "Besides giving yourself an alibi, the radio control allowed you to get to the Ark of the Cosmos without running into me."

"You jumped off your board, went in through the roof door, and stole the Ark," Fox concluded, "And if you want prove, we found the remote on the top of the hotel, something only a tech expert could make."

"Pretty cool Wave," Jet admitted to his ally, it would be hypocritical to reprimand someone for thievery.

"Now, tell me where the Ark of the Cosmos is," Shadow scowled, "And then this whole mess can be resolved."

"Ah uh ah," Wave teased, "We need the Ark to find the secret of our past. Let's go!" And with that, the three Babylon Rogues took off, with an angry Shadow racing after them.

"Well, this was eventful," Fox told Rabbit.

…

Jimmy and Francis were receiving reports on the news about how things were going on in the subspace between worlds.

"It looks like the battles are dying down," Francis commented.

"Yeah, but for how long?" the head of the Toon Detective Complex replied.

Francis had noticed there was a darker look in Jimmy's eyes, something he had realized only began in the last few weeks.

"We have to stop Harrison soon," Jimmy told the feline detective, "If not, the fate of all our worlds could be changed forever."

"And we don't want that," Francis nodded, "Let's just hope everyone else doesn't get used to these vacation stops…."

…

After a night at the casino, the Highwind was getting ready to leave.

"Hurry up punks!" Barrett called to the Toon Detective Complex crew, "If ya won't hurry we'll be leaving without ya!"

The Nostalgia Critic, Nostalgia Chick, Paw, Obscurus Lupa, JesuOtaku, Film Brain, and the Blockbuster Buster were the first ones to get aboard the fast flying airship.

"I still find the design to be rather tacky," Rarity told Twilight as they got aboard next.

All of the other toons were climbing aboard the Highwind, but there was something none of them noticed…..

From the lower cargo hold of the airship, three particular figures were climbing aboard the Highwind. They were the cloaked figures the Critic had bumped into the previous night.

"All right," the Baron grinned, using his magic to levitate off the ground, "Let's continue on our journey!"

"Yee haa!" Cid cheered, turning the Highwind on to full speed, and using the portal to exit from Casino Park.

But what none of the detectives knew was that there were now three stowaways on board the airship with them…..


	4. The Gorge of Betrayal

**The Toon Files Episode 108: The Gorge of Betrayal.**

Over in the world Harrison was in, the criminal mastermind was keeping tabs on the detectives and the internet critics thanks to the robot that had infiltrated the group.

"Carry on with your search, please, I love a good show," Harrison smiled wickedly, watching the monitors, "That's why I started this war in the first place."

"Shall we get you anything sir?" one of the servants asked Harrison.

"No, not at all," Harrison replied casually, "I like to wait undistracted. I wouldn't want to miss them fall apart at the seams."

"Yes sir," the servant nodded, and walked out of the monitor room.

…..

Back in the Highwind, the TDC crew was still flying through subspace. Jimmy was giving everyone an update on information they had received.

"Our radars detected a weird rectangular light space here in the place between worlds," Jimmy informed the rest.

"Is it another portal?" Paw asked Jimmy.

"No, portals aren't anything like that," Jimmy explained to the others, "This fracture in subspace, we don't know what it is, so we should avoid it for now."

"And as for tracking down Harrison," Francis added, "Our radars have been able to narrow down the quadrant of portals that Reiner could be in, though that still leaves us with over a dozen possible he could be in."

"So we thought of a divide and conquer strategy," Jimmy continued, "We'll go between worlds in small groups, and if one of us finds him, we'll contact the others and immediately regroup."

"We'll need a volunteer to go into the next portal we just discovered thanks to my calculations," Double D explained.

There were no volunteers, at least until….

"Are all of you really that big cowards?" JesuOtaku's red snark titles displayed.

"Heh, I never noticed that sentient text," Haku commented.

"You know what," the anime reviewer commented, "I'll go first, leave this one to me."

"Take these," Jimmy said, tossing her some of the gadgets Dr. Agasa had made for him, "They can help if you encounter any mystery along the way."

"Thanks," JO smiled, going down to the cargo drop point to jump into the portal.

She looked down at the entrance to another world.

"Here we go again, red snark titles," JO told her companion, as she took a few steps back and then made the leap inside.

….

**BakuBaku Valley, Japan, 2005.**

The line between predator and prey seems clear, but sometimes the line blurs. There has never been a better example of this the story of Gabu and Mei, a wolf and goat respectively who despite their dietary differences, were actually very good friends ever since they met one stormy night. Though, because of the….difficulties between their two species, Gabu and Mei had to keep their friendship secret.

It was just another day as usual, as the war in the other worlds had not affected this one in any significant way. JesuOtaku landed in the world on the side of the goats.

"Ok, JO, look for clues," the red snark text instructed.

"Sure," JesuOtaku replied, running through the field, looking for a place with a mansion or even a mere house.

Not too far away, Mei was eating some grass with some of his goat friends, such as Mii, and Tap, the rather plump goat.

"Glad to see none of the wolves out," Mii commented.

"Yeah…" Mei replied, uncertainly, as evening was coming. He wished his species could be more open to the ideas of his and Gabu's friendship. "I think I'll take a nap here."

"Just watch out," Tap reminded, "The elder doesn't want you to be by yourselves when there could be wolves around."

"Don't worry," Mei assured, as he began to drift off to sleep.

…

Mei woke up a little why later, still by himself. One of his eyes cracked open, and he saw something zoom overhead. Was it a shooting star? Mei was still a bit too tired to think about it as he fell asleep.

Little did he know, when he woke up, chaos was about to erupt…..

….

Compared to the relative serenity of the first time he woke up, Mei was woken up very abruptly by Tap a little while later.

"Tap?! What's going on?!" Mei exclaimed, needing a moment to regain his composure.

"It's….it's the elder!" Tap exclaimed, rubbing a wound he had on his forehead, "He's dead! A wolf ate him!"

"What?!" Mei gasped, quickly getting up and running over to the see the rest of the goats grieving over their lost elder….or what was left of him, at least…..

"It's horrible," Mii told Mei, doing her best to hold back tears, "Some wolf must've snuck into our lands a little bit ago and tore him up."

"How are you sure?" Mei replied.

"Look," Mei replied, pointing with her front paws, which Mei noticed also seemed to be sore, like Tap's forehead was.

The elder's body….what was left of it, anyways, was just a few small pieces left. One of the elder's back paws remained, it was clear a carnivore had torn him up and made him a meal. And on that remaining paw was a very distinct bite mark. Mei took a closer look at the bite, having a concerned feeling. There was something about these teeth marks that made Mei shiver.

"Gabu…..it couldn't be!" Mei thought to himself, turning to run away.

"Mei, where are you going?!" Mii called, but the boy goat had taken off fast.

….

Mei had to run around the gorge that served as the divider between the goats' territory and the wolves' territory. He knew he would be taking a risk by doing this, but he had to know the truth.

Mei didn't notice JesuOtaku searching for any sign of human life in the vicinity.

"Ok seriously," JO commented, getting annoyed at her own lack of results, "Why is there a barn in the middle of the woods, but literally no other buildings?"

"Of course the very first world they tried wouldn't produce results," the red snark titles read.

The anime reviewer had noticed what was going on with the goats, but with what JO had been hearing about mysteries in this multi-verse, she figured that one of this world's residents would be the one to end up solving the case.

"Jimmy, or Shinichi I should say," JO thought to herself, "Gave me the bow tie and wristwatch stun gun combo, eh? Does he really expect me to copy his technique?" She proceeded along the way as well.

…

Mei knew it was a potentially fatal risk, but he headed over to the valley where the wolves resided, knowing that wolves were deeper sleepers than his fellow goats. Mei needed to know for sure, could it be that Gabu went back on his word?

Gabu had told Mei where he spent the night, which was in a place separate from the rest of the pack.

"Cmon, Gabu, please be here…" Mei whispered. Luckily, the goat did not have to go too far to find his wolf friend.

"Ah, Mei what are you doing here?" Gabu called in a panicked whisper. Mei trotted over silently, doing whatever he could to avoid detection from any other wolves.

"Gabu, there's something I needed to talk to you about," Mei said sternly.

"Could you have not done this later?" Gabu asked nervously.

"No, we have to talk now," Mei replied simply.

"You look somewhat angry Mei," Gabu commented, picking at his teeth, there was something stuck in it, but he couldn't quite get in out.

"My herd's elder is dead," Mei revealed bluntly, "And from the looks of it, it was a wolf who did it. More specifically…..I saw teeth marks that looked like yours, Gabu."

"No, Mei, it wasn't me!" Gabu exclaimed, nearly waking the other wolves up, "I would never eat goat, not after I've met you!"

"Did you know if any of your pack went hunting earlier?" Mei asked, somewhat relieved.

"No, not that I can recall," Gabu said, "But I saw Giro eating one just a little bit ago…."

"Show me," Mei ordered, "As my friend, you have to show me, Gabu."

…

The leader of the wolf pack, Giro, was gnawing on the last bits of a goat. Gabu and Mei were looking down on the scene from one of the higher cliffs.

"Delicious," Giro yawned. Mei gasped at what he saw.

"That's the elder's body," Mei realized, "It had to have been Giro."

Normally, Gabu wouldn't have minded taking Giro down, but today, something just didn't fit right with the wolf.

"But I never saw him head over the gorge," Gabu informed Mei. It was then Giro said something that caught the goat off guard.

"I'll need to thank whoever left this here," Giro grinned as he began to doze off for the night.

"Someone….left the body here?" Mei said, surprised, "Then…..he wasn't the killer."

"That's the thing Mei," Gabu explained, "I may not be the strongest or swiftest of my pack, but even the most strong of my pack can't make the leap over the gorge. Whenever my pack hunts, they have to take the side routes."

"Then how?" Mei asked himself, "How could any wolf kill the elder and bring him back here so quickly?

"I don't know Mei," Gabu nodded sadly, "But if you want help finding out, I'll be glad to lend a paw."

"Thanks Gabu," Mei smiled to the wolf, "You're a real friend."

The duo set off, away from the wolf pack, to look for clues, as JO had witnessed a lot of the conversation, the hunt for Harrison still wasn't giving her any results.

….

Gabu and Mei had walked around the wolves' side of the gorge and headed back over to the goats' side.

"Be honest with me Gabu," Mei said to his friend, "Has Giro or any of the other higher ups in your pack ever talked about some kind of secret hunting route?"

"No, not that I can remember," Gabu nodded his head, "Whenever Giro has a new plan, he always tells everyone. He's not one to keep secrets, I'll admit. He's the kind who finds secrets out…" he added that last part quietly.

The two friends were walking over some wobbly rocks. Mei briefly stopped walking, while Gabu trotted on forward. The angle the rock was at caused it to tip forward when Gabu took a few more steps forward, making Mei roll off his feet and tumble forward a bit.

"Whoa," Mei gasped, caught off guard, "I didn't see that one coming."

"Sorry Mei," Gabu apologized.

"Don't worry," Mei replied, "I've seen rocks like this back in my parts, I just wasn't paying attention." Mei remembered how he and his goat friends liked to play jokes with these, sometimes sending others flying.

…..

It turned out there was one other human who lived in these parts, a pottery maker. He was always working with clay, and he even got inspiration for designs from the local animals.

"Not too often do we see humans in these parts," Mei told Gabu as they walked past the house, "And it's weird why he keeps setting Clay out every night."

"This places seems familiar," Gabu said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Mei asked the wolf.

"Well, one night I was walking around here when I was suddenly knocked out. When I woke up, I had a bump on my head and since then, I've had something stuck in my teeth that I can't quite get out."

Suddenly, a shocked look appeared on Mei's face. "It…..there's no way….it couldn't be," the goat realized. He quickly took off running ahead.

"Mei wait!" Gabu called.

Mei raced down to the bottom of the gorge, looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" Gabu asked the goat.

"Something sharp," Mei replied, when suddenly he pricked his hoof on something sharp. "Ow," he gasped.

JO had seen the same thing, and reached a similar conclusion. Mei did one more test. He jumped down from a high distance, and kind of hurt his hooves.

"I know who the killer is," JO and Mei said in unison.

…

Gabu waved goodbye to Mei as Mei headed back to his herd.

But as the goat got back to the others, he suddenly froze up. He knew that what he was about to do was for the best, but he couldn't bring himself to talk.

"Something wrong Mei?" Tap tried to ask.

"Oh for the love of…." JesuOtaku sighed, pulling out the gadgets Jimmy had given her. She hit Mei with a sleeping dart, and hid behind a rock. She pulled out the bowtie voice emulator and turned the dial to Mei's voice.

"I've figured out who killed the elder," the anime reviewer said in Mei's voice.

"You have?!" the other goats gasped, "But wasn't it a wolf?"

"Not quite," JO replied, emulating Mei, "The real murderer is…..Mii!" The other goats turned in horror at the female goat.

"What?!" Mii gasped in disbelief, "You can't possibly be serious, Mei? There's no way I'm a murderer!"

"You used a clever trick to frame the wolves," JesuOtaku explained, "And you had an unwitting accomplice in the human who leaves nearby. You knocked out a wolf one night and made him bite some clay. You were creating a mold of his teeth, which you could use to impale the elder, as if a wolf had bitten him."

"That's crazy," Mii replied, "Is there any proof of that?"

"Here's the mold," JO called, tossing the mold out from behind the rock, creating the illusion that Mei had tossed it. The other wolves gasped.

"But how did I make the body disappear? I, and none of us for that matter, can leap over the gorge."

"You used the rocks to launch the remaining pieces of the elder," JO revealed, "Tap, come over him, I need an assistant."

Tap did so, and was instructed to jump onto a tilted angled rock, which he did so. Another goat stepped on the other side, and when Tap dropped down, the goat was sent flying, but managed to stop before they went over the gorge.

"Mii, you had your front paws injured, which is only possible if you jumped onto a rock like this," JO concluded her deduction.

Mii fell on her knees, her trick had been exposed. "The elder…..is a monster," she growled.

"What did he do?" Mei's grandmother asked.

"Last summer, I saved a wolf pup from the river. The thing was so small, I knew it wasn't dangerous. So I took care of him for a while. But one night, the elder caught me helping it out, and chased him off into the desert, and I never saw the little guy again…he left a cub to die!"

The other goats looked on in horror as JO snuck away from the scene of the case she had just solved, and went back to the portal to get aboard the Highwind.

A few minutes later, Mei woke up, to see Mii in tears of both anger and sadness. He was confused. Had he solved the mystery and immediately forgotten that he had done so?

….

JesuOtaku got back aboard the Highwind.

"Did you find Reiner?" the Blockbuster Buster asked his fellow TGWTG member.

"No, we just solved a murder that involved some goats," the red snark text replied.

JesuOtaku went over to Jimmy and the other crew from the Toon Detective Complex. "I didn't find out anything useful," she explained, annoyed, "We're gonna have to split up and search faster than this."

Double D meanwhile was checking up on the pods that linked their realm and the real world.

"Almost ready, the combustion levels have gone down almost 95 percent by this point," the genius from the cul-de-sac informed Twilight.

"We may just be able to send them all home," the purple pony said about the internet critics.

Dawn however, still looked concerned. "Coco," she told her bandicoot friend, "The spirits are sending me a message that dark times are coming."

"Don't be paranoid," Coco replied with a smirk, "That can't be good for your health Dawn."

….

Back in the world Harrison Reiner had taken residence in, the madman himself had called for, of all things, a glass of wine.

"Ah," Harrison smirked, watching the monitors like a theatrical presentation, "We've had an interesting introduction," he chuckled, taking a sip of the wine, "Now it's time for the rising action, and I feel this is where the audience participation section begins."

One of Harrison's servants stepped forward, holding a stack of papers. "We have the documents ready for the necessary forging," he informed his master.

"Good, good," Harrison smiled, taking another sip in a sinister gentlemanly fashion, "Time for phase 2."


	5. Digital Speed Demon

**The Toon Files Episode 109: Digital Speed Demon.**

The Highwind flew further into subspace.

"Even outer space isn't as beautiful as this," Cid admitted, surprised by his own words.

"Isn't that the Satellite of Love?" Abigail noticed, pointing out the front window.

Tom Servo, one of the robots who watched cheesy movies with Mike Nelson, was one of the killers in the Ghostface massacre in Toon Town around 11 years ago, but he had since been reprogrammed by Mike.

"Yo," Crow waved as the two flying devices passed by each other. The TGWTG crew were all fans of MST3K, so they had the Highwind stop so they could have their pictures taken.

"This multi-verse is pretty fascinating," Paw admitted.

…

Rarity was by herself in a room in the airship she had reserved as her temporary lab as the voyage went on.

"Ok, purple does not work well with this armor," she commented on her own designs. Though she wasn't making just mere clothes anymore, she liked to remain fashionable.

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Sly asked, he and Carmelita stepping into the room.

"Ringtail, she knows how to design technology, you don't," Carmelita smiled. Even when they were (at least as it appeared to Carmelita) on the same sides of the law, the fox inspector still liked to use that nickname for Sly.

"Point taken," Sly replied, blushing.

"Besides," Rarity added, "Unlike the rest of you, I'll be remaining aboard the Highwind, working on our communicators and other tech." Rarity was one of the members of the Toon Detective Complex who didn't specialize in detective work, but her design skills and knowledge of mechanical engineering were a force to be reckoned with.

"We'll keep in touch," Sly smirked.

As the couple left Rarity's lab, Carmelita could have sworn she saw a cloaked figure run behind her.

….

Double D went over to the internet critics with good news.

"The pods are ready," he informed the 7 people from the real world.

"Really?" the Nostalgia Critic smiled, "We can finally get back to our world and get back to our reviewing?"

"Sure," Double D nodded, "Though, we would all be highly appreciative if you could find some assistance that can be loaned to us from the real world."

The Critic, the Nostalgia Chick, the Blockbuster Buster, JesuOtaku, Obscurus Lupa, Film Brain, and Paw all entered the 7 pods.

"We'll send for help," Lupa promised the toon detectives.

"One more thing," Double D said suddenly, "To keep the polarity balanced, you will all be sent into one last virtual mystery before you emerge back in your world."

"Gotcha," Paw nodded. The pods soon closed, and the real world residents' minds were uploaded back towards the real world.

….

**Game Central Station, Litwak's Arcade, 2012.**

Video games had a world of their own, as shown in the movie Wreck-it Ralph. Games in any particular arcade were united by a plug, and characters could visit other games after the arcade was closed.

Wreck-it Ralph was the "Bad guy" of the game Fix-it Felix Jr, but he was actually quite a nice guy, and helped save the entire arcade when he defeated the evil Turbo Racer, who had taken over the game Sugar Rush from its rightful ruler, Vanellope Von Schweetz. Felix had married Sgt. Tamara Calhoun from the new FPS, Hero's Duty.

The 7 reviewers from TGWTG all landed in the center of Game Central Station.

"One more of these…" the Buster sighed.

"FOLLOW ARROWS TO REACH CASE STARTING POINT," an all-too familiar electronic voice said to the internet critics.

"This was an alright movie," the Critic commented.

Lupa and the others noticed that the arrows pointed into Sugar Rush, so the 7 ran towards that game's entrance, passing by Link, Squall, and Mario along the way.

"Here we go," Paw said, as they sat on the train that would take them to the proper game world. The train took off after only a few seconds.

…

The world of Sugar Rush was, well, pretty sweet. The late 1990s kart racing game was filled with candy and other sugar treat-based environments, which made it quite colorful.

"Too much sweets for my taste," Film Brain commented.

Currently, Vanellope, the real racing champ of Sugar Rush, was having another race to decide who would be in the game's roster for the next day.

Vanellope's former bully turned simple rival on the track Taffyta Muttonfudge was prepping her kart for the race.

"Let's hope that ghost driver doesn't show up again," Venellope commented.

"Ghost driver?" Lupa asked as the internet critics made their way towards the racers.

"Some guy whose kart is covered in some holographic suit keeps driving around and messing with everyone," Taffyta said.

"And today the race is going to be in Cough Drop Caverns," Venellope told the TGWTG members,

"You crybaby karters get discouraged so easily," Sgt. Calhoun told the Sugar Rush racers, "I'll tell you what, I'll do patrol from outside of the caverns to watch for any suspicious activity."

"That's great," Taffyta replied somewhat sarcastically, "But we're still missing two drivers after half of us got stomachaches from all the root beer."

"Some of us could drive," Paw volunteered.

"Yeah, bring it on," Lupa smirked, she and Paw getting into two available karts.

"You'll never stop my cherry bombs," Candlehead, another one of the racers smirked.

"Or my gobstobber gattling gun," Tafftya chuckled, "They now come with color changing powers."

"Now, just have a gosh darn friendly race," Fix-it Felix said, acting as a flag waver. Wreck-it Ralph was in the grandstands, cheering on Venellope.

….

The drivers got behind the wheel and pulled up to the starting line in Cough Drop Caverns.

"Nice dark lighting," Lupa commented.

"Adds to the mood," Paw concurred.

Felix walked to the center of the starting line with the checkered flag. "On my count," the professional fixer smiled, "3…2…1…GO!" He waved the flag, and the karts zoomed off, Felix quickly jumping to avoid getting ran over.

The various racers got the need for speed pretty quickly. Lupa was really getting into the race, while Paw drove up towards the ruler of Sugar Rush to ask some questions.

"Excuse me, President Von Schweetz," Paw told the expert driver, "This may not be the right moment to ask about this, and forgive me if I'm being intrusive, but can you tell me more about this ghost driver?"

"Let me think, four-eyes," Venellope replied, slightly hurting Paw's feelings with her comment, "He just showed up one day out of completely nowhere, and appeared on the tracks to mess with me and the other drivers."

"How does he or she do it?" Paw questioned next.

"He drives through a lot of the powerups," Venellope explained, "And then he powers them up somehow and shoots them at all of us. Yet for some reason, they never show up at the finish line."

"Is this some sort of racing Robin Hood?" Paw thought to himself, having to quickly swerve out of the way of an incoming sweet sweeker. "Whoa!" the music critic gasped, catching his breath.

Paw looked down on the electronic lap counter on his kart. "And we're only on lap one…" he gulped to himself.

….

Ahead, Lupa was closer to the front of the pack. Candlehead and Taffyta were also pretty close to her.

"Ok…focus on the case, focus on the case," Lupa reminded herself, to avoid letting the need for speed take her over her desire to be a detective.

"Sorry about this Taffyta," Candlehead said suddenly as she drove through a powerup. The Cough Drop Caverns was a very circular track with a lot of rises and dips in the elevation.

"Sorry about what?" Taffyta asked, confused.

"This," Candlehead smirked, launching a root beer float bomb right at Taffyta, causing her to swerve off trap and onto a tunnel shortcut.

"Joke's on you!" Taffyta's voice echoed as she drove down the tunnel.

"Dang it," Candlehead frowned, wanting to make up for her mistake, so she zoomed ahead.

With the other racers a fair distance behind her, Lupa was pretty much on her own as she kept driving down the path.

"How can I solve a mystery while driving 60 MPH?" Lupa asked herself, but she didn't lose any confidence as she drove for fun and answers.

…..

Meanwhile, the Nostalgia Critic and the other 4 TGWTG critics who had been brought into the multiverse were following Calhoun on air boards she had brought from her home game.

"Watching Back to the Future makes this easy," Film Brain grinned as he flew around with ease.

"We need to keep our eyes on Calhoun," JesuOtaku told the others, "She's probably one of the suspects since we were lead to this case."

"Suspect?" Calhoun chuckled in a heartily yet mean way, "You so called humans seem to be thinking like these candy people…..no offense," she told to a group of lollipop citizens who were right below them.

"Well, we're keeping our eyes on you," the Critic told Calhoun rather bluntly, "We're not gonna let you pull a fast one on us."

"Fast one eh?" Calhoun replied, "You mean, like….THIS?" Suddenly, Calhoun's board went to rocket speed and she took off further into Sugar Rush, far out of the Critic's sights.

"There's no way we couldn't have seen this one coming," the Nostalgia Chick sighed.

….

Back inside Cough Drop Caverns, the racers kept going up and down slopes.

"This is getting to be pretty long," Lupa commented as all of a sudden, Paw was gaining on her.

"Did you find any clues?" Paw asked Lupa.

"Nothing yet," Lupa admitted, "But I lost track of some of the other racers, let's hope nothing's happened to them."

"That ghost driver may be showing up any moment now," Paw commented, and the music movie reviewer was about, to his dismay, be proven right.

Out of a tunnel that was partially obscured by some cough drops, a kart that was covered completely in black appeared and began firing on Paw and Lupa.

"Take evasive action!" Lupa instructed quickly, knowing a lot about action movies.

The two friends did what they could to dodge the candy that was being shot at them. Lupa was mostly successful, while Paw almost spun out.

"See you losers never," the ghost driver chuckled as he or she sped off. Their voice was highly distorted so the detectives couldn't tell who it was.

"Darn it," Paw frowned, "He got away."

"Look on the bright side," Lupa told her fellow internet reviewer.

"What's supposed to be the bright side of all of this?" Paw wanted to know.

"You got a free chocolate ball out of the deal," Lupa smiled, pointing towards the brown candy ball that got lodged in the back of Paw's kart.

"Very funny," Paw chuckled, not letting go of the gas pedal, "We have to get to the bottom of this case if we want to make it back to the real world!"

…

The drivers had been in the tunnels for several minutes now.

"You know, after this I'm never taking another cough drop for at least a month," Lupa commented, sick of the repeating scenery.

"We still haven't seen any of the other drivers," Paw noted as they drove up a rather crude ramp to the upper levels of the caverns.

"Guys, come it," Film Brain called over a walkie talkie Paw had brought with him.

"What is it?" Paw asked the British critic.

"Something's not right," Film Brain replied, "It's been around 10 minutes, and none of the drivers have come out of the caverns!"

"What?!" Paw and Lupa gasped in unison.

"How can that be?" Lupa asked, "The starting line is outside of these caves, how could nobody cross it by now?"

"Maybe it's just a very long track?" Paw suggested, looking at his electronic lap counter, "We're still on lap one…."

While managing to still focus on the road, Lupa had a sudden realization. "Could it be?" she asked, looking at the back of Paw's kart.

Currently resting in the back was a big blue candy ball. Lupa's eyes widened in realization.

"What is it?" Paw asked.

"Paw, I know who's behind this," Lupa grinned, "We just need to catch up!"

…..

Lupa had explained her theory, and the two internet critics took special care to pick up as many turbo boosts as they could so they could catch up to the other racers.

It wasn't too long before they finally saw Taffyta and Candlehead in the distance. Candlehead was currently in the lead.

"You can't beat me!" Candlehead laughed, using a syrup slick powerup.

Lupa and Paw zipped up towards Taffyta.

"You two managed to catch up, impressive," the driver with a lollipop complimented.

"We needed to," Paw said over the roar of the engines, "Because the ghost driver is none other than you, Taffyta!"

"What?!" Taffyta and Candlehead both gasped, the former nearing steering out of control for a second there.

"How could I be the ghost driver?" Taffyta asked, regaining her focus towards the road, "You saw me at the starting line."

"That was all part of your trick," Lupa explained, "Each race, you wait for the chance to get out of sight of the other drivers. Once you are, you activate some trick with the code to turn your kart into the ghost driver's."

"That's crazy," Taffyta replied, "And even if you're right, anyone could have done that."

"That's true, to an extent," Paw replied, "Which is why you've been sabotaging this race by keeping everyone trapped in the caverns. How could we still be on lap 1 after all this time? You've been shooting new paths to upper levels that aren't supposed to be part of the track."

"That's why the platforms up and down looked so uneven," Lupa explained.

"But how can you be so sure it was me who did it?" Taffyta demanded to know.

"You gave yourself away with your signature powerup," Paw revealed, "Your color changing gobstobbers. When my kart got hit, it looked like a brown piece of candy, but then Lupa noticed it's blue, and hell, it's now changed to purple. Only you have that kind of powerup, Taffyta."

Taffyta huffed, as her scheme had been uncovered.

"It was you this whole time?!" Candlehead huffed, "Then you better show us all the way out of here!"

"Fine…." Taffyta replied.

…

A short while later, Taffyta blasted the way out to the outside of Sugar Rush, and all the racers were soon able to get out, as Venellope decided to cut the race short after everything that had transpired.

"Why'd ya do it?" Ralph demanded to know, using his rather big muscle mass as a motivator to get Taffyta to be blunt, though he would never punch someone so small.

"I was jealous, ok?" Taffyta replied, "I know I didn't always win races in the past, but ever since Venellope became our ruler again she always wins when the player picks her. I just wanted to give myself a fighting chance…."

"Look, if you're so concerned about racing," Venellope said, handing the situation rather peacefully, "I can give you some tips," she offered genuinely.

"How sweet," the Nostalgia Chick said under her breath in silent sarcasm.

It was then the 7 internet critics began to flicker for the last time, having solved the case.

"Real world, he were come," the Blockbuster Buster grinned, as the TGWTG video producers disappeared into a flash of light.

…

**The real world…**

Back in the convention center where they had gotten into the pods, the Nostalgia Critic, Paw, Nostalgia Chick, Blockbuster Buster, Obscurus Lupa, JesuOtaku, and Film Brain emerged from them.

"Aw, it's great to be home," Film Brain smiled.

The Cinema Snob and Linkara were waiting for their fellow critics to return to the real world.

"Ah, you're back," the Cinema Snob said rather casually.

"What happened while we were gone?" Lupa asked.

"We went out and drank some of the Snob's Crystal Pepsi," Linkara informed them.

Lupa still wanted to help the toons back in the multiverse, so she was starting to form a plan.

….

Back on the Highwind, Double D looked over the results of the transfer.

"This was a triumph," Double D grinned, "They made it back to the real world safely."

"All right," Jimmy sighed, relieved, "Now we can focus on the hunt for Harrison."

"We'll make that monster pay…" Francis nodded.


	6. A Matter of Afterlife and Death

**The Toon Files Episode 110: A Matter of Afterlife and Death.**

The Highwind was still flying through subspace, and it was nearing an area where several portals were existing.

"That strange tear still in subspace still has me concerned," Double D informed the others.

"We can't focus on that now," Jimmy replied, "We'll need to split up to find Harrison faster."

The crew looked over all the possible worlds they could go into.

"I'll admit, for all my vacations, I've never really left my world," Ingrid admitted.

"We can't really narrow down the search further until we do exploration," Jimmy told his comrades."

"You up for a trip, ringtail?" Carmelita smiled to Sly.

"You bet," Sly nodded in reply.

"No one should go into a world alone," Francis explained to everyone, "If you're going to search in one of the portals, bring at least one friend with you."

Fillmore and Ingrid, Sly and Carmelita, Rabbit and Fox, and Knuckles and Rouge were just a few of the forged teams.

"All right," Jimmy nodded, turning to Cid, "Place the airship near the portals."

"Here we go!" Cid grinned, piloting the Highwind to their destinations.

….

Harrison was able to watching everything that had just happened from the robot double that had replaced one of the TDC members.

"How adorable, I'll admit," Harrison chuckled, relaxing in his chair, "They think dividing and conquering will allow them to stop me."

Harrison pulled out a device that allowed him to send messages to the chameleon bot.

"Can you hear me?" he asked.

"Yes Mr. Reiner," the robot replied.

"Now that they have split up, you can go on the attack," Harrison explained, "And, for the sake of creativity, send them to the world my previous accomplice was from."

"Yes master," the robot replied, ending the transmission.

"The game has entered its next round," Harrison smirked to himself.

….

**Blithe Hollow, Massachusetts, 2012.**

They say some towns are haunted by old ghosts, and in the case of Blithe Hollow, that is quite literal! Spirits of the deceased were found all around the town, however, only one person could see them, a young 13 year old named Norman Babcock. At first, the townspeople treated Norman as an outcast because of his ability, but when he saved them all from the witch's ghost (who was actually just a lonely, misunderstood girl with the same gift as him), all the townspeople, his classmates, and his family all appreciated him.

In fact, Norman had received a phone call requesting his "services" one day.

"Where am I taking you?" Courtney, Norman's older sister asked as she drove Norman and his friend Neil Downe across town.

"A….Mr. Hampton Yorkshire," Norman read off a piece of paper, "He said he's being haunted by a ghost, and he wants me to calm it down."

"The usual huh?" Courtney shrugged as she pulled up a street.

Jimmy and Francis had ended up in this world, and were looking in almost the same area that Norman was pulling up to.

Hampton's two twenty-something children, Calvin and Annette were waiting for Norman and the others.

"Thank god you're here," Annette sighed in relief, "We've been having some reporters harass us lately."

"How come?" Neil asked.

"To expose their father's corruption," a female reporter suddenly said. Two reporters, a man and a woman stepped forward, "I'm Mazy Peters," she introduced.

"And I'm Frank Talin," the male reporter spoke up.

"Now watch it you," Calvin grumbled to the reporters, "Our father is not guilty of the actions you attention whores are seeking!"

"Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night," Mazy smirked, as Norman, Courtney, Neil, and the Yorkshire siblings went inside.

…

Norman knocked on the door to Hampton's study. "Mr. Yorkshire?" he called.

"Leave me alone!" Hampton called back, I don't want to let the ghosts in!"

"Who are these ghosts he's been referring to?" Norman asked, "I'm not seeing any in this house."

"We had a brother," Calvin explained, "But he died in an accident, that wasn't dad's fault. He's just being paranoid."

"He's not letting us in," Courtney commented, trying to get the locked door open.

"This is how dad can get," Annette admitted, "Come on, we can go to my place, it's just down the street. I'm an artist, I could show you some of my paintings."

"Cool," Neil smiled, "I work with art too….chalk specifically."

"I see…." Calvin replied, kind of creeped out.

…..

Jimmy and Francis were on the street next to the Yorkshire resident.

"With such a resident area," the cat from Germany noted, "Harrison would have several places to hide."

"And this town has the right amount of creep factor," Jimmy nodded, "Someone like Reiner would fit right in."

In Annette's house, Norman noticed a stack of movies on a shelf.

"Cool, you've got Friday the 13th and Halloween?" Norman asked Annette.

"No, those are mine," Calvin smiled, "I'm a big movie buff, I always keep a small collection at any place I stop by regularly. You should see my own house, I'm even attending film school."

"Cool," Norman smiled. However, the seemingly bright day was about to be plunged into darkness.

Neil looked out the window, and saw something that made his eyes widen.

"Hey, does your dad like to put up his Halloween decorations reeeallllyy early?" he asked Annette and Calvin.

"No, why do you ask?" Calvin replied.

"Because…..it looks like your dad just got hung!" Neil exclaimed.

"WHAT?!" the siblings yelled, running towards the window.

There, hanging from a high branch from a noose, was Hampton Yorkshire, his body swaying in the breeze.

"Father!" Annette yelled, as she, her brother, Norman, Neil, and Courtney ran out of her house.

Jimmy and Francis had noticed the 5 panicked people, and decided to follow them, knowing that something bad must have happened.

The people raced back into the house and towards Hampton's study.

"It's still locked!" Calvin said, banging on the door.

"Stand back," Courtney instructed, determined. Pausing for a second to gather up all the needed strength, she karate kicked the door open.

Inside the study was a smashed window, and the branch Hampton was hung on was right outside.

Norman and the others raced over. Norman reached to check Hampton's pulse. "He's gone…" Norman informed regretfully, making Calvin and Annette each nearly cry.

"How can we get him down?" Neil asked.

"I've just called the police," Jimmy spoke up suddenly, stepping into the room.

"Who are you?" Norman asked, caught off guard by the appearance of the Japanese teen detective and cat.

"I'm Jimmy Kudo, and this is my colleague Francis," Jimmy informed, "And we'll help you solve this case."

…..

It took only a few minutes for the Blithe Hollow police and ambulance to arrive at the Yorkshire residence.

"So, you found him hanging from the tree branch?" the police chief asked Norman, Neil, Courtney, and Yorkshire's children.

"Yes," Annette nodded, wiping a tear from her eye, "I don't know why father would kill himself."

"How are you so sure this was a suicide?" Jimmy asked Annette.

"Have you seen this tree?" Calvin replied, "There's no way to climb it while carrying another person, and the door to our father's study was locked. While I don't understand why, the only possible explanation is that our father took his own life."

"That doesn't sit right with us," Francis spoke up, "Norman hear just told Jimmy and I that your father seemed really freaked earlier."

"That's true," Calvin replied, "He was convinced a ghost was haunting him."

"So, if he hired people to get rid of a ghost," Francis began to explain, "Why would he kill himself?"

"W….what are you saying?" Annette asked, being able to regain her composure.

"That, somehow, someone managed to get into this locked room and kill Hampton," Jimmy revealed ominously.

"What?!" the Yorkshire siblings gasped.

"Did your father have any enemies?" Francis asked the brother and sister.

"The cat's talking?" Courtney asked, still a bit surprised, as she had not traveled between worlds often and barely knew about the war.

"He's from another world," Norman explained to his older sister.

"Wait a minute," Calvin realized, "There were those two reporters who were harassing father earlier today!"

"I say that sounds like some suspects," Francis smirked, "Let's go find these reporters and question them."

…

Frank and Mazy were locals of Blithe Hollow as well, and they were currently at the Daily Witch, the town's main newspaper.

"So," Mazy smirked, seeing the Yorkshire siblings enter their office, "Come to confess on your father's behalf?"

"No, but for once we were hoping your reporters could be the one answering the questions," Jimmy informed.

"What do you mean?" Frank asked.

"Hampton Yorkshire is dead," Jimmy revealed bluntly.

"What?" Mazy gasped, surprised by the reveal, but then her shock turned to a smirk. "Finally, that old crook is dead."

"What did our dad ever do to you two?" Annette demanded to know.

"Oh, it's not the two of us," Frank replied, "What your father did to a lot of small businesses all over town is something only a demon would do."

"What?" Calvin frowned.

"He was blackmailing a lot of restaurants with false health violation claims if they didn't sign up to his bogus insurance company. Do you know how many people have had their lives screwed up because of Hampton Yorkshire? Dying is the best thing someone like him could do for the world."

"Where were you two at 1 p.m. today?" Jimmy questioned the reporters.

"We were back here at our office," Mazy replied to the detectives, "Our deadline to turn in our writings for the day is just about then."

"Can anyone prove you were here?" Jimmy questioned the two reporters.

"Of course," Frank replied, tossing some darts at a dart board, as it was his talent, "Pretty much everyone else who is in this building right now can attest we were here."

"How'd he die anyways?" Mazy asked the detectives.

"Hanging," Francis replied bluntly, climbing up onto the desk. The cat tried to look around for any possible small clues.

"Ack, gruesome way to go, even for a monster," Mazy commented, shivering a bit.

"Don't go far," Norman said as Jimmy and the others left.

….

As the group walked back to the crime scene, Francis turned to Jimmy. "What should we do Jimmy?" the feline detective asked, "If we keep going on this case, we might lose a chance at catching Reiner."

Jimmy suddenly sighed and gave a sly smile. "We have to solve this case, Francis," he explained, "A detective can't just willingly let a case go unsolved, it wouldn't be right."

"I see," Francis nodded, smiling in response.

Norman, Jimmy and the others made it back to the Yorkshire residence. Jimmy and Francis went over to where the body had been lowered.

"Jimmy, look at this," Francis called, eying the noose close, "There appears to be some small perforations in the noose."

Jimmy went over and looked at the noose, noticing the same detail. "Could it be?" Jimmy realized, looking towards the upstairs window of Hampton's study. He, Francis, and Norman quickly rushed inside.

…..

Jimmy ran over to the broken window that the tree where the victim had been hung was right outside.

"Anyone have a flashlight?" Jimmy asked.

"Let me look," Francis smirked, "Cats have great night vision, after all." Francis examined the window frame closely.

"Is my theory correct?" Jimmy asked his friend.

"Indeed it just might," Francis replied, "There's nails on the ground near the window, 4 of them to be precise."

"I've got part of the trick figured out," Jimmy revealed to Norman, "But I still can't figure out who the killer is….any one of them could have used this trick."

"I want to help," Norman told the detectives, walking over to a wall, where he noticed a hole in the wall, the only hole in the wall in fact. Norman peaked inside. "Hey, there's something in here!" he called.

Jimmy and Francis raced over and looked at the whole in the wall. Inside, they saw what looked like a lens, and a machine attached to it.

"The killer…..it's that person," Jimmy realized, having a flash of insight.

…..

The trio went back outside the house.

"Norman, why is this guy smiling?" Courtney asked her little brother.

"He knows who murdered Mr. Yorkshire," Norman revealed rather casually.

"What?!" Calvin and Annette exclaimed, "Who killed our father?!"

Jimmy pointed his finger dramatically. "The murderer is you….Calvin Yorkshire!" Calvin's eyes widened in shock.

"What?" Annette gasped, "My brother, a killer? That's impossible."

"He is the killer, and I can prove it to," Jimmy replied.

"How could it have been me?" Calvin asked, "I was in my sister's house, in front of several witnesses, when my dad was hung."

"You didn't need to be in the room at the time of the crime to hang him," Francis retorted, "You came up with a classic locked room murder plot."

"In the darkened room, you set up the trick some time in advance. You actually had the noose inside the building, and you nailed the noose in 4 spots around the window frame," Jimmy explained, "When the victim jumped through the window, it would pull the nails out, causing the noose to form properly around his neck, hanging your father to death."

"That's why we found nails in the study," Francis said, "You didn't have time to hide those."

"And is that why there was those perforations in the rope?" Norman asked the two detectives.

"That's exactly it Norman," Jimmy nodded.

"This is absurd," Calvin frowned, "How could you accuse me of committing patricide?! And even in the trick you described is accurate, how could it only have been me who pulled it off?!"

"I thought the same way too at first," Jimmy admitted, "But Calvin, we found something that proves you're the killer. It's in a hole in the wall."

Calvin gasped as he realize his plan was uncovered.

"It's a video projector, something a film student like you would have access to," Francis explained, "Whatever video played must have scared your father enough to jump out the window, triggering his death."

Calvin fell to the floor on his knees, eyes wide in shock.

"Calvin…." Annette gasped, "Why? Why would you kill dad?"

"What he did to Jeremy was unforgiveable," Calvin explained. Jeremy was Calvin and Annette's dead brother. "Jeremy was looking to go into football, but father wanted to him to be a businessman. When he refused…..father sabotaged his car. He caused the accident that killed our brother!"

Annette could only look on in horror as her world was effectively being turned upside down.

"I think he might've regretted it," Norman suddenly spoke up.

"What do you know!?" Calvin yelled in response.

"All the ghosts I see who stay around town are still here because they either had something left to do, or they felt their death was unjust. Since your dad's ghost never showed up, part of me is thinking….he felt he deserved what you did to him, Calvin. As evil as murder is, he felt he had it coming."

The police checked the projector, and the video Calvin had installed was some old videos of Jeremy before his death, which Calvin knew with some editing would scare his father right into his plan.

….

Having closed the case, Jimmy and Francis resumed their hunt for Harrison Reiner, but it was beginning to become clear that he wasn't in Blithe Hollow.

"What do you say?" Francis asked, "We should get back to the Highwind."

"Yeah, we should," Jimmy nodded, as the duo returned towards the portal, "Let's just hope everyone else has had better luck then us."

…

In another world, Rabbit and Fox were a team, and their search was proving to provide more or less the same results.

"I just hope our kids are safe," Fox commented.

"Don't worry," Rabbit assured, "With Korra keeping them safe, we have nothing to worry about."

All of a sudden, someone tapped the two on their backs. Before they could turn and see who it was, the figure knocked the both of them out with 2 powerful punches.

"The first capture," the chameleon robot grinned, pulling the out cold couple towards a portal other than the one that led back to the Highwind.

…..

A little while later, Rabbit and Fox came to. They were in the middle of a dusty old canyon.

"Ugh….where are we? What happened?" Rabbit asked dizzily as he and Fox regained their composures.

Suddenly, a giant moving shadow flew overhead. It was none other than Dojo the two-headed dragon!

"Ooh, two animals we missed," the left head chuckled hungrily, "Perfect for a 7th after dinner snack!"

Fox and Rabbit tried to run, but before they could make it far, the two Dojo heads had swallowed the couple whole!


	7. Flame War

**The Toon Files Episode 111: Flame War.**

Rabbit and Fox toppled down the throat of the massive dragon that had consumed almost the entire population of the world it lived in.

"Aghh!" Rabbit yelled as he bounced along the interior walls. Finally, the couple plopped down in the stomach, though thankfully away from the stomach acids. And there was a good reason for how they managed to avoid digestion. In the 12 years it had been since Dojo started his worldwide feast, an entire city (a mostly makeshift one of course) had formed inside the dragon's stomach.

"Great," Rabbit frowned, "I always thought that if I was ever to get eaten, I never thought it would be a dragon that gobbled me up."

"What are we gonna do now?" Fox asked, concerned, "Whatever attacked us took our communicators, and there's no way anyone back on the airship will find us in here."

"So, you were dragged in here too?" a voice said from one of the shacks in the Dojo stomach village.

"Who's there?" Rabbit and Fox asked in unison.

Out from the shack stepped Raimundo, one of the Xiaolin monks, and a native resident of the world Dojo had eaten up. "I've heard of you two," the monk who had mastered the element of air explained, "And let me guess, are you on the hunt for Harrison Reiner?"

Rabbit and Fox looked at each in surprise, then turned back towards Raimundo. "Yeah…..but how could you know that?" Fox asked.

Raimundo took a deep breath before he spoke his next sentence. "Because not too long ago, I was his accomplice."

Rabbit and Fox's mouths practically dropped to the floor.

…..

Back on the Highwind, Rarity was still working on her next projects that would help aid the TDC members.

"The voltage level needs to be brought down," she muttered to herself.

As Rarity was using a screwdriver, she heard some clanging on the floor outside. "Weird," Rarity said to herself, "I thought everyone had already left."

Rarity trotted outside her makeshift lab to see what the source of the noise was. When she did so, she caught a glimpse of the 3 cloaked figures at the other end of the hall.

"Hey, who are you?" Rarity called, but the sound of the pony's voice made them quickly disappear into the shadows.

"The crew of this vessel is so dang secretive," the fashion-conscious pony told herself, thinking the figures were just friends of Tifa and Cid.

"We can't let anyone detect us," one of the cloaks scolded the other once they were out of everyone's possible sight.

"Not until we find the information we need," the third cloak said.

…..

**The Kingdom of Allfire, 1301.**

There are times where things just seem topsy-turvy. And a great example of a place where the reverse was the standard. Big, fire breathing dragons were knights while human knights were seen as the bad guys. The dragons lived peaceful (Using the word "peaceful" lightly) under the rule of King Allfire, Queen Griddle, and their daughter Princess Flame.

Haku and the Baron were the ones to enter this world. Haku stayed in his dragon form to blend in with the environment. The Baron rode on Haku's head to avoid being seen as a meal.

"You can claim I'm just wanting to make this an act of brevity," the Baron told Haku, "But I'm getting the feeling that Harrison is not in this world."

"Who knows," Haku replied, "With the power that monster's been able to obtain, I wouldn't find it surprising if he was able to find some allies with the dragons."

"Let's head to the palace," the Baron suggested, "And see if the royalty can give us any clues on his location."

"Gotcha," Haku nodded, flying towards Allfire's palace.

…..

A lot of King Allfire's loyal Knights of the Square Table had gone on vacation to the beach, so the palace was mostly empty. The king himself and Princess Flame were still present, as well as two of the knights, Loungealot, a loveable but lazy dragon, and Blaze, a somewhat effeminate one.

"Who goes there?" King Allfire asked as Haku flow through the front gate.

"Forgive us for intruding," Haku said, stopping before the throne, "But my name is Haku, and my feline companion here is the Baron. We were hoping we could ask you some questions."

"What kind of questions?" King Allfire asked.

"We were wondering if you knew the location of a human named Harrison Reiner," the Baron explained, "He is the one responsible for the multiverse war that started recently, and we're trying to find him and stop him."

"Huh, so there is someone responsible for all those annoying battles," Sir Loungealot yawned, walking along the halls of the castle, "I was hoping for some peace and quiet."

"Darling, it'd be the best if this war was all over," Blaze told the two Toon Detective Complex members.

"You can feel free to search our lands," Princess Flame offered, stepping down from her bedroom, "And Sir Loungealot and Sir Blaze, could you two go back onto patrol?"

"Yes, m'lady," they said in unison.

….

Haku and the Baron were outside the palace, looking at the immediate surroundings.

"For dragons, I'll admit I'm impressed not all the flowers are burnt down," the Baron noted, quickly turning to Haku, "No offense meant."

"None taken," the river spirit replied, looking at how most of the flowers in the royal garden were dead.

All of a sudden, the relative calmness of the scene was broken when Allfire was heard exclaiming "Who did this?!"

"I think that's something we have to check out," the Baron said confidently.

"I can agree with you on that," Haku nodded, turning into his dragon form for quick mobility.

Inside one of the castle hallways, they noticed the King of the dragons looking at a wall, mouth open in shock.

"What happened your highness?" Haku demanded to know.

"Someone….burnt my family tapestry to ashes," Allfire said, trying not to panic.

Loungealot and Blaze came running into the room, but since they came from separate doors, they crashed into each other and knocked each other over.

"What happened father?" Flame asked, walking into the room.

"Someone burned down the tapestry that displayed my father and all the other former kings in their glory," King Allfire explained to his daughter.

"That's horrible," Flame gasped.

"And I'm determined to find out which callous fool could have done something like this!" the king growled.

"This is where we can be of assistance, your majesty," the Baron smiled, "You see, Haku and I are detectives, and we specialize in solving mysteries just like this one."

"Consider yourself hired," King Allfire told the magical cat and river spirit, "I'll give you two hours to find the culprit and bring him or her in front of me!"

"Understood, your majesty," Haku bowed, as he and the Baron began the investigation.

…

A few minutes later, the duo was looking for clues inside the palace. "Did you see any suspicious figures?" the Baron asked Haku.

"No, not really," Haku replied, "And even with my sense of smell I only could detect those we had met earlier today."

As they walked along, the Baron wanted to comment on something he had found odd. "For a royalty's castle, you think they would keep it in better shape than this."

"What do you mean?" Haku asked.

"Well, this floor is so uneven," the Baron explained, "Even back in this time period where stone was used as a main building tool, I think it would be more stable than this."

"Well, I guess this is to be expected from dragon architecture," Haku shrugged as they continued the investigation.

The Baron looked around the smaller areas to see if there were any secret holes.

"From what we've seen, the only entrance to the palace is through the front gate," Haku told his partner and friend, "The only other access would be through the windows on the upper floors."

"Do you think a random intruder is the guilty party?" the Baron questioned.

"I doubt that," Haku replied, "If someone was to go through all the trouble to get into the castle of the ruling dragons, you think whatever their plan was, it would cause more damage than just burn down a mere tapestry, am I correct?"

"You have a point there," the Baron nodded, smirking, "I get the feeling that we should start asking questions to the dragons already inside."

"We should split up," Haku agreed, "Baron, you talk with the king and the princess. I'll talk with the two knights we saw earlier."

"Take care," the Baron waved as he called for Toto to fly him to the suspects that he agreed to question.

…..

Haku, in his dragon form, flew to Princess Flame's chamber.

"Hello there," the princess smiled, being considerably saner than her parents, "Can I be of assistance?"

"Yes your highness," Haku bowed respectfully, "I was hoping I could ask you some questions."

"Such as what?" Flame pondered.

"Well, I was hoping to know where you were about 30 minutes ago," Haku explained, not being too subtle about his intentions.

Flame started to chuckle in a gentle, non-mean way. "Oh, you think I'm a suspect, don't you?" Flame correctly guessed, "Well, let me assure you that I couldn't have been the one to turn the tapestry to ash, I was outside until my father screamed over the incident."

"What were you doing outside?" Haku asked.

"Tending to the garden," Princess Flame explained, "I'm doing my best to keep all the flowers nice and beautiful."

"Did you see anybody out of the ordinary?" Haku asked the princess of the dragons.

"Not that I can recall," Flame replied, "Though I do remember hearing Sir Blaze and Sir Loungealot laughing about something earlier, though I didn't get the chance to find out what they were laughing about."

"Thank you for your time, princess," Haku bowed once again as he headed out of Flame's chamber, "My partner and I will be keeping in touch with everyone in the palace."

"That's fine with me," Flame smiled.

…

The Baron headed to the Knights of the Square Table's break room, where Loungealot and Blaze currently were.

Loungealot was lying in a hammock, trying to catch some sleep.

"I hope I haven't caught you two at an inopportune moment," the Baron said politely, "But I was hoping to ask the two of you some questions."

"Why certainly darling," Blaze smiled, "Ask us anything."

"Were you two together around the time the tapestry got set on fire?" the magical cat asked the dragons.

"No," Loungealot yawned, rolling around in the hammock, "I was taking my 4th nap of the day. All this drool here proves that."

"And I was on patrol," Sir Blaze added, "Having to do double duty to make up for this lazy guy…"

"Did anyone see you?" the Baron asked.

"Just King Allfire, but we passed each other only briefly," Blaze explained.

The Baron started to walk out of the break room, "What's with those metal shoes?" he asked.

"Oh, the princess recommended them," Blaze remembered, "She told us they would make us look better in her father's eyes."

…..

Haku and the Baron soon met up again. "Did you get any leads?" Haku asked his friend.

"No major ones," the Baron admitted, "But I don't feel like I walked away empty-pawed."

As the two walked down the castle halls, Haku started to smell something odd.

"Something catch you nose?" the Baron asked.

"Yeah…" Haku nodded in realization. In his dragon form, the river spirit examined the ground very closely.

In the cracks between the floors, Haku noticed some weird object covering the distance of the cracks. Using his claws, the dragon pulled some of the object out.

"What is this?" the Baron asked, surprised.

"It looks like flint," Haku realized. And with that, the two detectives suddenly paused. The answer was coming to them!

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the Baron smirked.

"Exactly the same," Haku nodded.

….

The Baron and Haku headed back up to Princess Flame's chamber.

"Nice to see you two detectives again," Flame smiled earnestly, "How can I be of help this time?"

"By confessing, your majesty," Haku replied with a smirk.

"What…what do you mean?" Flame replied somewhat nervously.

"We've found some clues, and we were able to determine how you set the royal tapestry on fire," the Baron explained.

Flame began to chuckle again. "How could I have done something like that?"

"By turning the knights into your unknowing accomplices," Haku began to explain, "We were told you were the one who suggested they wear metal shoes. The shoes were the key to your plan. The Baron and I found it odd how uneven the floor was."

"But that was also part of your plan," the Baron continued, "As Sir Blaze patrolled the halls, he would eventually reach the hallway where you set up flint in the cracks of the floor. The sparks that metal shoes would produce would be the key to the fire that caused the damage."

"That's an absurd theory," Flame chuckled, "But I will admire your deductive prowess to be able to come up with such a complex theory. Do you have any proof?"

"Yeah, your own choice of story was what gave you away," Haku replied with a blunt smile.

"What do you mean?" Flame replied, getting nervous again.

"The alibi you gave me was that you were working in the garden when the fire that turned the tapestry into ashes started," Haku reminded the dragon princess, "Now tell me this: We saw the flowers around the castle, there were pretty much none there, let alone enough for there to be a garden. So how could you have possibly been working in the garden?"

"You got me," Flame admitted, as King Allfire and the two knights came into her room.

"But sweetie," King Allfire asked his daughter, "Why would you do such a thing? You knew how important it is to our family."

"Because of the treasure hidden in the wall," Flame revealed, "Grandfather once told me that the greatest treasure of the dragons was hidden in the castle walls behind the tapestry, and I knew I'd never be able to convince you to just move it."

"We're even richer!" the dragon king grinned, going over to the wall and busting inside, proving the princess right.

Haku and the Baron said goodbye to the dragons, and headed back towards the portal to resume their hunt for Harrison Reiner.

….

Back inside the stomach of Dojo the two headed, world-eating dragon, Rabbit and Fox could not believe what they learning.

"So it was you back then?!" Fox growled to Raimundo, "You were the one who bombed Thorn Valley, you were the one who killed Shifu, and Queen Lura?" Thinking back to the Starlight Manor showdown, Fox remembered how Harrison's accomplice managed to escape using a gust of wind, and then she recalled how wind was Raimundo's element.

"The very same," Raimundo admitted, voice filled with regret.

"How could you do such a thing, you monster?!" Rabbit roared, hopping over and knocking the Xiaolin monk down with his feet.

"Look around," Raimundo replied, "I don't have a world left. Dojo, since we were unable to beat him a showdown, ate pretty much everyone and everything. One day, I was sent a mysterious tape from Harrison, who promised me he'd be able to provide me with the resources I'd need to save my world if I aided him in his crimes."

"You're not heartless," Fox growled, "You're just the biggest idiot I've ever met. You think noble intentions excuses what you did? Do you know how many lives you shattered by working with him?!"

"I know now," Raimundo admitted, getting back to his feet, "But since you and your allies were hunting for Harrison, I probably should warn you about something, even if you two are unlikely to get out of Dojo for a while now…"

"What is it?!" the animal couple demanded to know.

"The last thing Harrison had me do before he dropped me back into my world to be eaten again was steal a chameleon robot from Jack Spicer, which can take the form of anyone and copy them almost to a T. I didn't know what he wanted with it then, but now that you're in here, I think I know why."

Rabbit and Fox were quick to realize Harrison's intentions as well.

"There's an imposter with our friends!" Fox gasped.

"But who?" Rabbit frowned, no clue as to who it could be.

"We have to get out of here," Fox said, trying to use kung fu on Dojo's stomach walls, but to no avail.

"We're doomed," Rabbit gulped.


	8. Lap Top Dynasty

**The Toon Files Episode 112: Lap Top Dynasty.**

Other detectives were still searching for Harrison in their assigned worlds, but not too many were finding luck.

"This is Double D," Double D said over the multiverse communication system that had been given to all the members of the Toon Detective Complex, "Have any of you had any luck in your searches?"

"Not really," Dawn admitted, as she and Coco were walking through a world still in prehistoric times, "Though it doesn't take the spirits to tell me that he's probably not hiding out in a world filled with dinosaurs."

Coco used a fruit bazooka to distract the giant herbivores.

"Point taken," Jimmy said over the communicator, "Francis and I are headed back to the Highwind."

"I'm not getting any results either," Twilight said, the pony sounding annoyed, "I hope we can find this freak before it's too late."

"We all do, Twilight," Haku said.

…..

Back in the real world, all of the internet critics had gone back to their respective homes.

While the Nostalgia Critic and some of the others were working on their next reviews, Obscurus Lupa was still thinking of ways to help the toons back in the multiverse.

Lupa pulled out her lap top, and sent a Skype call to Linkara.

"Hey Lupa, what's up?" the comic book reviewer asked.

"Hey Linkara, you have a spaceship right?" Lupa questioned.

"Yeah, I do, why do you want to know?" Linkara replied.

"It's kind of a long story, I'll admit," Lupa began to reply, "But back when me and the other guys were trapped in those pods, we were in this weird multiverse, and apparently just as we had ended up in their realm, a war was going on. I was wanting to help them out, since we left in the middle of the conflict."

"So you want to go into a multiverse of fictional characters to end a war?" Linkara figured.

"Yup," Lupa smiled sweetly.

"I'll see if I can get Comicron 1 to warp between these worlds," Linkara informed Lupa.

"Thanks Linkara," Lupa smiled earnestly, as she kept working on a plan on how to help the toon detectives.

….

Back on the Highwind, a figure walked over to Rarity's lab door, taking extra precaution not to make a noise.

The figure had ripped a pipe off from the side of one of the other rooms in the airship, and jammed it in between the door to the lab's handles.

"Heh heh," the figure laughed to itself as it left the area without ever attracting Rarity's attention.

…..

**Downtown City, Washington, 2013.**

Sometimes a person can have a special gift, and Blythe Baxter. The teenaged girl was the only person she knew who had the power to talk to animals, which was good, as she worked at the Littlest Pet Shop, and some of her best friends were the pets who attended the place daily.

"Good news," Blythe told some of the animals who were there that day. They included Penny Ling, a panda, Zoe Trent, a King Charles Spaniel, Sunil Nevla, a mongoose, Pepper Clark, a skunk, and Russel Fergusson, a hedgehog. Minka and Vinnie weren't able to make it that day, "There's a new Japanese restaurant in town that allows pets to come in, they even have special dishes prepared for you guys!"

"Are you sure this is healthy for us?" Russell asked. The hedgehog was always the safety conscious one of the pets.

"Cmon Russell, you're more scared then a guy on a slingshot ride," Pepper giggled, being a standup comedian, "In fact, I think I'll take me mic and do some standup while we're there." Pepper had forgotten the other humans don't hear her.

"And I'll take my magic wands," Sunil smiled, putting two in a case. Sunil was a magician in training.

"I'll have to bring my lap top," Blythe said, "My other friends are gonna kill me if I don't finish the report for chemistry class."

"Let's go," Penny smiled happily, the girl panda was always the cheerful one.

…..

Abigail, Sly, and Carmelita were the ones who were searching for Harrison in Downtown City.

"Thanks for letting me come with you guys," Abigail smiled, "Even if I am a little short compared to you two."

"Don't mention it," Carmelita replied, "Anyone big or small can fight for justice."

Some of the humans who weren't familiar with the portals or heard much about the war going on were slightly freaked out by the trio, but some of them understood their purpose.

By chance, the 3 decided to stop for lunch at the same Japanese restaurant Blythe and the others were at.

The restaurant had a special delivery system that worked by having small boats floating around an enclosed narrow pond to deliver food from room to room. Every party attending the restaurant got a fairly big room all to themselves.

"Just sign your name here," the greeter told Blythe, "And we'll announce when a room is open."

"Ok," Blythe nodded, signing the list. She then went to the restroom for a moment to comb her hair.

"A room is open now," the greeter smiled, "Write your orders down on the paper in the room."

"This'll be a high cultured meal," Zoe smiled, only Blythe and the other pets understanding her.

…..

The pets had split up to explore the restaurant after Blythe wrote down everyone's order.

As she typed more of the PowerPoint presentation on her lap top, a server came over to Blythe looking concerned. "Ms. Baxter, there's an odd delay with your order," the server said.

"Huh?" Blythe asked, going over, as the pets still explored the café.

"We're sorry," the server apologized, "Something went wrong with the grill."

As Blythe headed back to their room, she gasped. "Where's my lap top?!"

Sly, Abigail, and Carmelita overheard the exclamation. "What happened mam?" Carmelita asked, her and Sly showing their badges.

"Wow….a police fox and police raccoon," Blythe commented, taking a moment to absorb what she was seeing.

Pepper, Sunil, Russell, Zoe, and Penny ran up to their favorite human.

"Oh no," Russell gasped, "Your lap top's missing, Blythe!"

"It is," Blythe nodded, on the verge of freaking out, "I am so dead….my team's gonna get an "F", my friends are gonna kill me!"

"Calm down mam," Sly said calmly, "My partners Inspector Fox and Ms. Abigail here can help track down your lap top. Can you tell us when it went missing?"

"It had to have been within 5 minutes ago," Blythe informed the detective trio, "The server came and told me that there was a delay in the making of the sushi I had ordered, so I went over to see what the problem was. When I got back, my lap top was missing."

"Do you think it could've been misplaced?" Abigail asked.

"No, I set it right down on the table," Blythe informed the 3, "There was no way I was imagining that."

"Is there anyone you could think of who might want to steal it?" Sly asked, knowing the irony of him asking this question.

"Well, there are the Biskit twins, but they aren't here in the restaurant," Blythe replied to the Constable.

"Our investigation starts here," Carmelita told her boyfriend and Abigail.

….

While Sly and Carmelita combed the area in and around the Japanese restaurant, Abigail was asking questions to the Littlest Pet Shop pets.

"Did any of you see anyone go near the computer?" Abigail questioned, taking notes down on a woodmouse-sized notepad.

"No, not that I can recall," Zoe replied, "I was getting prepared to sing while Pepper was prepping for her standup comedy act she wanted to do here."

"And Sunil's magic show," Pepper remembered, "He brought 2 magic wands just for the occasion."

"So how come the humans can hear us but not you?" Abigail asked next.

"It's how our world works," Russell shrugged, "We can hear pretty much everything all the humans say, but only Blythe hears us talking. We know a lot of human things, though. Sunil and I have good handwriting while Zoe is a highly talented singer."

"Why thank you," Zoe smiled, somewhat full of herself.

"Is there any other way we could be of any use to your investigation?" Sunil asked Abigail.

"Well, the best advice I can give all of you is don't go far," Abigail responded, "There's a chance my 2 partners and I will have to ask Blythe and all of you more questions."

….

"Look at the entrance Cooper," Carmelita told Sly, "There's a metal detector. Blythe told me that her lap top set it off when she entered the restaurant. I asked the staff if it's gone off any other time since then, and they say it hasn't."

"So what you're getting at," Sly realized, "Is that whoever stole the lap top probably didn't go out through the front door."

"So we still have a good chance at catching the thief and bringing him or her to justice," Carmelita smirked, always one to enjoy bringing criminals to the law.

"That, and the lap top itself might not be too far away," Carmelita nodded.

"I have to say, the owners of this place went all out with it," Sly complimented on the building they were in, "The pond they have with the bamboo boat delivery system, it works pretty well."

All of the big private rooms in the restaurant had open windows just half a foot above the pond, where the servers would send out the orders on tiny boats when they were ready.

"Yeah….we should come back here after the war," Carmelita nodded, blushing at Sly.

…

Abigail went through the bags the pets had brought with them. Taking care not to damage any of their property, she took out the contents of the bags.

Among the things she saw was 2 mirrors for Zoe, Russell's first aid kit, Sunil's magic wand, and Pepper's microphone for her standup act.

"They're a quirky bunch, these pets," Abigail smiled, as she was getting to like the 5 other small animals, even if she couldn't stay in this world for that long, the hunt for Harrison took top priority.

After she put all the stuff back in the bags, Abigail heard two servers talking.

"It's weird that that Mr. Lloyd never left an order," one of the waiters commented, "If fact, he didn't seem to be around when I said a room was ready for him."

"He could've just been in the restroom at the time," the other waiter replied, "And even if he left the restaurant already, if he never placed an order he technically didn't rip us off."

"Hmmm…" Abigail pondered as she walked by the feet of the two humans, still very small compared to them.

…..

After a few more minutes, Abigail met up with Sly and Carmelita. "Did you guys find any leads?" the woodmouse asked.

"We haven't located the lap top," Sly replied, "But there are some suspicions Carmelita had."

"If only we could figure out how the culprit managed to take and hide Blythe's lap top in such a short period of time," the Interpol inspector growled subtlety.

Inside the restaurant's kitchen, some of the janitor staff was working on an issue with a grill. "I think this is why it wasn't working," one of the cleaning crew commented, "There was something jammed in it."

Abigail, Sly, and Carmelita overheard this development and walked over to the humans. They were about to get the smoking gun they needed to solve the mystery of the missing lap top.

"Almost, almost, just a few more inches and I can get it," the other member of the cleaning crew said, using a grabbing device to reach the object that had been jammed into the grill.

After a few more attempts, the object was finally pulled out of the grill. It had been damaged by being in there for a while, but they could tell it was a stick like object.

The fox, raccoon, and woodmouse looked down on the object and all three began to smile.

"I think we found just what we need," Sly smirked, the case had been solved.

…

The trio went back over to Blythe to update her on the case.

"Do you have anything to tell me?" Blythe asked the animal detectives.

"The best piece of news we can give you, mam," Carmelita replied, "We know who took your lap top….it was one of your pets."

"It was?" Blythe frowned, "But which one?"

"The culprit," Abigail announced, as the 5 pets came over, "Is…..Sunil!"

The other 4 pets gasped and turned towards the mongoose. "Why, that is just absurd," Sunil chuckled, "How could I possibly be a thief?"

"You took advantage of how this restaurant works to create your trick," Sly explained, "First you made it so Blythe would be distracted and leave the room to check on her order."

"Then you put her lap top in the service boat," Abigail continued, "Where it would float down to the next room. A room which you had preordered! I remember Russell telling me that you and him were able to copy human handwriting rather well, so there was never any Mr. Lloyd, you just needed a name so you could get a room to yourself."

"That's why he never showed up," one of the servers at the restaurant realized.

"But how could Sunil know I'd be distracted?" Blythe asked, "That leaves too much up to chance."

"Not really," Sly replied, "He sabotaged the restaurant's grill around the time you made your order, so they would inform you about it."

"But there's still one problem with your theory," Zoe said, standing up for her friend, "We all went around the place, it could have been any of us."

"Not considering what the grill was jammed with," Abigail replied, presenting the stick, or, more accurately, one of Sunil's magic wands. "When I was looking through all of your things, I noticed I only found one magic wand. That was rather odd, I was told you brought two, Sunil. So why did one show up in the grill?"

Sunil sighed, he had been caught.

"But why Sunil?" Penny asked.

"Because I didn't want any of you to find out my secret," the blue mongoose replied.

"What secret?" Pepper asked.

"That I looked up some of my newest tricks on the internet," Sunil revealed, getting only a few gasps, "I didn't want you guys to think I was being uncreative. I was just gonna delete the browser history then give it back to you, Blythe."

"Don't worry Sunil," Blythe smiled, having got her lap top out of the empty room Sunil had hidden it in, "You should just be honest about how you feel. Honesty is always the best policy."

"Yeah….it is," Sly nodded nervously at that remark. For as much as he cared about Carmelita, he hadn't exactly been honest with her ever since he became her partner.

"We should get going," Abigail commented as she waved goodbye to the LPS pets, "We need to keep the search going."

"I've asked around," Carmelita told Sly and Abigail, "But no one is this world has ever heard of a Harrison Reiner."

"Perhaps we should head back to the Highwind," Sly suggested.

…..

Back on the Highwind, Rarity was finishing up with her latest invention for the TDC crew when she decided to take a lunch break.

"Everyone's gonna love this," she smiled, but as the unicorn tried to step outside of her makeshift lab, the door wouldn't open. "Oh great," she frowned.

Suddenly, a hole was made in the roof, and a small beaker filled with a weird substance was dropped into the lab.

"What the hey?!" Rarity exclaimed as the substance began to unleash some fumes. Rarity caught a sniff of the fumes that began to fill the air, and her eyes widened.

"A toxic gas!" she exclaimed in horror. She ran to the door and tried to bust it open, or use her magic, but the fumes were overpowering her quickly.

"No…." she cried weakly, as she fell onto the floor. It took only a few more seconds for the fumes to do their job.

Rarity has been killed.


	9. The Last Dance

**The Toon Files Episode 113: The Last Dance.**

Harrison was still working on a document in his lair when he received a call from the chameleon bot.

"What's the good news?" Harrison smiled, watching video of battles in various worlds going on in the war on his many monitors.

"I've taken out Rarity," the chameleon bot explained, "I'm sealing off the lab to make it look like she's hard at work, and I'm tossing the body into the void. Also, I threw Rabbit and Fox to Dojo, they won't be getting out for a very long time, if at all."

"You never let me down," Harrison chuckled lightly, enjoying how everything was going according to his plans.

"I'll strike on the remaining ones soon," the chameleon bot informed, "I have my plan set."

"Thanks for the update," Harrison replied, hanging up the phone. He turned to a monitor he had in the subspace between worlds. "Soon, I'll be able to leave this…." He grinned.

….

Meanwhile, Po, Tigress, Tai Lung, Mantis, Crane, Viper, and Monkey were continuing their own quest. The only real lead they had on Shifu's murderer was the portal he had taken off into, so they were basing their quest around that.

"I wish I could get into contact with the other TDC guys," Mantis told his friends, "They all must be worried since I haven't been able to talk with them for almost a week now…."

"Maybe they know what the deal is with all these airships," Po said, seeing some of the war vehicles that this particular world was using fly overhead.

But Tai Lung had no intentions of giving up. This monster had taken his only known family (before he got married to Tigress of course), and he was determined to make him or her pay.

"Could we take a little rest?" Viper asked politely, "We haven't stopped moving since we left Howl's castle."

Tai Lung and Tigress looked at each other. While everyone in their group was definitely hurt by the loss of Shifu, they were the ones in the most pain, and they were beginning to realize they might be pushing their friends a little too hard.

"Well, ok," Tigress nodded, "If we find a place to cool off, we can take some time off."

"I here there's a pretty famous café in the next world over," Po smiled, trying to lighten the mood, "Let's head there."

"Agreed, big guy," Tai Lung nodded.

…..

**Sandusky, Ohio, 2010.**

Fillmore and Ingrid headed into a world where around the time they had entered, the high school prom was about to commence.

"I guess none of the battles went into this world," Ingrid told her partner.

"Yeah," Fillmore nodded as a group of teenagers walked past the safety patrollers. The group included the guitar player Jeremy Duncan, his girlfriend Sara Toomey, his friends Hector Garcia, Tim Olsen, and Pierce, who, true to his name, had several piercings.

The friends were bringing supplies from Tim's house to the school for prom. Jeremy brought various speakers, Tim was bringing a cooler full of drinks, Sara was bringing a special Jello dish Mrs. Olsen had prepared, and Pierce was bringing his drum set.

"See ya later mom," Tim called.

"We finally can slow dance together," Jeremy smiled to Sara, earning himself a slight slap.

"I call when we dance," Sara smirked bluntly.

"Dudes, this is gonna be the second best night of our lives, besides the time I got my wrists pierced," Pierce grinned. Pierce was a lovable, caring, yet creepy kind of guy.

"Teenagers," Fillmore smirked as they continued their search for Harrison.

…

The safety patrollers even stopped by the high school during the prom to ask the students and staff if they had seen Reiner, but that proved to not provide them with any luck.

"Dang," Fillmore said as they watched everyone dance in the gym to the rock and rap music.

"Should we head back to the Highwind?" Ingrid suggested, "There hasn't been any sort of criminal activity the whole time we were going around the city."

Just then, one of the more prankster students picked up the punch bowl and tossed it through the gym, sending the contents everywhere. Ingrid and Fillmore braced for the splash, and their communicators got soaked, causing them to malfunction.

"Great," Fillmore frowned.

"Epic dude!" Pierce was heard cheering, as a teacher escorted the prankster out of the gym.

"We should go back," Ingrid said, making it a statement this time.

…

While walking back through the streets of Sandusky, Fillmore and Ingrid overheard something that caught their attention. It was the sound of police car sirens.

"Ingrid, let's check this out, it could be important," Fillmore told his friend.

The two followed the sounds of the sirens back to a place that looked familiar to them. It was the Olsen residence.

"What happened here?" Ingrid asked a police officer.

"A woman who lived here, Laura Olsen, is dead," the officer replied, "She had been poisoned."

"WHAT?!" the two gasped, they never had to deal with a murder before.

"Now, unless you're related to the victim," the officer told the safety patrollers, "I suggest you two run off, this is official police business!"

Fillmore and Ingrid responded by pulling out badges that had been given to them by the Toon Detective Complex members. "I believe these qualify us to assist with investigations," Ingrid informed with a smirk, "So if you don't mind, my friend and I will be going inside this house."

The officer had no choice but to let them pass.

Fillmore turned to Ingrid. "This is our biggest case yet," he told her, "It's on."

….

Mrs. Olsen's body had already been taken to the morgue to be examined, but the officers were able to give Fillmore and Ingrid some details about what they had uncovered.

"The time of death is estimated to be about 45 minutes to 1 hour ago. A neighbor was scheduled to go out with her for some flower shopping. She knew where the spare key was, and went inside. She found Laura leaning against a table, and when she examined closely, she was already gone from this world."

"A horrible way to go out," Fillmore shivered, never having to deal with death before this night.

"Well, based on our examinations, the poison was a quick acting one," the officer replied, "So we're not ruling out the possibility of a suicide."

"Has the family been informed?" Ingrid asked the police.

"Not yet," another one of the police replied to the younger detectives, "We know tonight is the high school prom, and since her son is at that, probably having the time of his life, and once he learns about this, he'll be completely crushed, so we're waiting until midnight or whenever he comes home, whatever comes first."

"We see," Fillmore nodded, as he and Ingrid went into the kitchen where the body had been discovered.

"Did she already manage to eat something by the time she had died?" Ingrid questioned the officers.

"She was having a simple supper from what we can tell," the officer replied, "A turkey sandwich with a can of Coke to drink."

"Any chance her dinner might have been poisoned?" Fillmore asked.

"No, the coroner claims that no trace of the poison was found in the victim's food."

"We start our search here," Ingrid said to Fillmore. As the two safety patrollers began to look for clues, Ingrid head a weird noise. A noise that only she seemed to notice, it sounded like some sort of hissing.

"What is that?" she asked herself.

…

Back at the prom, Jeremy was unintentionally making a fool out of himself with his dance moves.

"All right," Jeremy smirked to Sara, who was trying to hide her face in embarrassment, "Have you ever seen any moves as sweet as these?"

"Those are as sweet as a potato chip," Hector said to Jeremy.

Sara pulled her cellphone out of her dress pocket, "I'm gonna see if Di'jon's ok," she explained. Di'jon was Pierce's girlfriend, but she was unable to attend the prom because of a sickness, "I promised to bring her some OJ, I still have it in the car."

"If she needs help sleeping," Tim said, "I have some medication that could help her, and it's safe to boot."

"We probably should get going," Jeremy nodded, "Once somebody brings down the basketball hoop, that usually means the party's over."

…

Back at the Olsen residence, Fillmore and Ingrid were still hunting for clues.

"All the shelves and other valuables appear to be in place," Fillmore commented, "So if this was murder, the chances are it wasn't a stranger."

"From what I've read in the news," Ingrid concurred, "When the weapon of choice is poison, the chances are the victim was not a random target, and the probability is high that Laura was a predetermined target."

"But who would want to kill her?" Fillmore asked, "And more importantly, why?" He was looking at various medicines that had been prescribed for her recently.

"She did seem like an optimist," Ingrid nodded, looking at a bunch of posters on the wall which all had expressions that she followed, such as "Always awake with the sun", "Always drink your beverages ice cold", "Always keep a smile on during the day", and "Always hang your posters with a hook."

"If the killer planted the poison on some random object in the house," Fillmore deduced, "It would have to have been something the killer could count on her touching, but that could be any number of things."

As Ingrid walked around the halls, her photographic memory began to act up. "Fillmore, a thought just occurred to me," she said.

"What is it?" her fellow safety patroller replied.

"Earlier, when we were walking past this house," Ingrid explained, "There were a bunch of teenagers leaving this play, and a good number of them were bringing objects to the high school prom with them."

"What are you implying?" Fillmore asked.

"There's a good chance that the murderer could be one of them," Ingrid revealed grimly, "We can't rule out any possibilities."

….

Jeremy, Sara, Hector, Tim, and Pierce were heading back through the city to drop everyone off at home, when they noticed the police cars around Tim's home.

"What's going on dudes?" Pierce asked.

"I don't like the looks of this," Tim frowned, as everyone got out of the car.

"Are you Tim Olsen?" one of the cops asked Tim, seeing the group approach the house.

"Yes, why do you ask?" he replied.

"Your mother, Laura, is dead," the officer informed regretfully.

"What?!" Tim gasped, as all his friends looked equally horrified. They raced inside the house as the investigation was still going on.

"Tim….we're….." Jeremy tried to say, but he knew no words he could come up would be able to put any sort of silver lining on the matter at hand.

…..

As they walked away from the grieving teens, the hissing sound was heard by Ingrid yet again.

"I have to find out what's making that sound," Ingrid told Fillmore, who was beginning to notice it himself.

The two safety patrol officers listened very carefully to determine the source of the sound, which they found in the kitchen, by the fridge.

"The water hose is leaking," Ingrid noticed, "This happened at my place once, it means our icemaker was out of commission for a week."

"Maybe we should get going," Fillmore said somewhat regretfully, "The emotions here are getting pretty high, and the cops are still on the case."

As the two were prepared to head out, they noticed the items some of the teens had on them at that moment.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to both of them. They ran over to the officers to ask another question.

"When the body was found, what position was it in?" Fillmore asked one of the Sandusky cops.

"Well, from what the neighbor reported, it looked like she was in a sleeping position, with her head relaxing on her arms."

The friends looked at each other, wide-eyed. They each had reached the same conclusion.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" Fillmore asked.

"We have our killer….." Ingrid nodded grimly.

…

Jeremy, Tim, Sara, Pierce, and Hector saw Ingrid and Fillmore walk over to them.

"Who are you again?" Jeremy asked.

"Officers Cornelius Fillmore and Ingrid Third of the X Middle School Safety Patrol, and we have some important news: We've figured out who murdered Laura Olsen."

"She was killed?" Hector gasped.

"Exactly," Ingrid replied, "And the killer is none other than you!" She was pointing at…..Tim!

"What?!" Sara, Hector, Jeremy, and Pierce gasped, turning to the son of the victim, mouths wide open in horror.

"How dare you accuse me of something as screwed up as this," Tim growled, "How and why would I kill my own mom?"

"How could he have done it," Sara nodded, "We were all at the prom, he wouldn't have had a chance to poison her food."

"You managed to pull it off from far away with ease," Fillmore replied, "You just had to set up things around in this house. Most importantly, you cut the water cooler's hose, so the icemaker in the refrigerator wouldn't work properly."

"We saw from the posters your mom hung up was that she likes to drink all her drinks ice cold, so you slipped the poison into the ice cube tray, where it would freeze, and your mom would pour the cola into a cup with ice," Ingrid continued.

"That's crazy, that would never work," Pierce said, standing up for Tim.

"We saw that Tim was the one handling the cooler when you left for the prom," Ingrid replied, "That would give you the best chance out of all the suspects to tamper with the freezer's hose. If by chance the victim didn't put the poisoned ice cube during tonight, you'd have another chance the next day, and you could just leave to establish an alibi."

"That's why no trace of the poison was found in the food or the pop," Fillmore continued, "Because it wasn't directly in either, it was in the ice."

"But where's your proof I did any of this?!" Tim demanded to know.

"You have sleeping pills on you, Tim," Ingrid responded, "Though you were willing to murder your own mom, you didn't want her to suffer. You also planted sleeping pills in the ice, so she would be asleep when the poison claimed her life."

"The cops told us she was found in a sleeping position," Fillmore concluded, "You're the only one who could've pulled this off."

The other teenagers looked on in horror as one of their closest friends had just been exposed as a killer.

"But Tim," Jeremy asked, the easy going guy getting serious, "How could you do such a terrible thing?"

"Because she was suffering," Tim said, a tear forming in his eye. "She had been diagnosed with cancer several months ago and was near death. I could see how much pain she was in. She did her best to hide it to not keep me feeling down, but I saw all the meds she had to take."

Fillmore and Ingrid remembered the medicine as well.

"I just…didn't want her to go through any more pain," Tim explained, breaking down into tears and collapsing onto the floor, sobbing.

Jeremy, Sara, and the others could only look on in silent sadness.

"You'll have to come with us now, son," the officers told Tim.

….

After the case was closed, Ingrid and Fillmore headed back to the portal to get back aboard the Highwind.

"You know," Ingrid spoke up, "No matter how many times I figure out the who and how," she said about mysteries, "I feel I never can truly understand the why."

"I don't think it can be understood, Ingrid," Fillmore said to his friend, "The darkness in people's hearts that can lead them to do things like that, maybe it can't be understood, and even if someone could figure it out, I don't know if I'll ever understand why, myself."

"Yeah," Ingrid nodded, looking at her broken communicator as they neared the portal.

….

Back in Toon Town, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Asami were doing patrols, to keep an eye out for any armies or war vehicles trying to enter the city.

"At least this place isn't getting attacked," Bolin sighed, relieved.

"But for how long bro?" Mako pointed out, "Looking at our own world's history, we know how widespread war can get."

"True," Korra nodded. As the Avatar was walking through the streets, she suddenly heard a voice call out to her, she instantly recognized who it was.

"Aang?" Korra asked, seeing the spirit of the previous Avatar appear before her, "Why did you show up?"

"I have to warn you," the previous savior of his world informed urgently, "All of your friends who have gone on the search, they are all in grave danger!"


	10. False Advertising

**The Toon Files Episode 114: False Advertising.**

Slowly but surely, the various detectives from the Toon Detective Complex were reuniting aboard the Highwind. The common glum expression on each of their faces was a clear indicator to Jimmy what the current results of their mission were.

"So, did any of you track down any sign of Harrison or where he's hiding?" Francis asked the other toons, hoping one of them would surprise the others.

"No," Ingrid replied, "We solved our first murder, though."

"Alas, I found no trace of the madman, even with my superior carnivore hunting skills," Bagheera nodded.

"No luck on my part either," Twilight nodded.

"What's our next move?" Haku questioned Jimmy.

The genius detective from Japan needed to take a moment to think. It was then that an idea hit him.

"I know where we can head," Jimmy revealed to his teammates, "There's a world with a big library that many researchers have gathered information on all of the other worlds, and they keep updating their info."

"Shall I go tell Rarity?" Twilight asked the TDC leader.

"Nah, she's probably busy working on our next batch of gadgets, best to leave her alone," Jimmy replied, "Cid, take us north!"

"That subspace fracture is getting much bigger….." Frylock noted grimly as they took off.

"Say, what happened to Rabbit and Fox?" Tifa commented, "They didn't come back…."

"I noticed that a while ago," Francis responded, "So I went to check out the world they had been assigned, but they weren't there either. They're tough, they wouldn't let something surprise them."

"So what do you think happened to them?" Dawn asked.

"We heard how worried they were about their children," Jimmy remembered, "Maybe they didn't want to take any chances and decided to head back to Toon Town. I can't say I fully blame them….."

The Highwind kept going towards the next destination.

…

Po, Tai Lung, and the Furious Five were nearing a portal to a place Po was excited to go to. "Where are we headed exactly, Po?" Mantis asked.

"The Wildcat Café," Po grinned in his usual fanboy way, "It only serves the most awesome food in the multiverse! Chef Wildcat is my biggest non-kung fu idol!"

"Isn't that the place where people who get deemed weak get cooked and served to the other customers?" Viper recalled from a pamphlet she had read.

"Your point being?" Po replied, "We're all awesomely strong, we have nothing to worry about!"

"Sure thing, big guy," Tai Lung smiled.

…

**The Wildcat Café, 1994.**

Chef Wildcat had been expanding his franchise into several worlds, from the Spirit World to Toon Town, though he still went to his original establishment from time to time. Now, Wildcat had his own ideas of what goes into recipes, namely those he deems "weak." Food would be served to customers whom he had deemed "strong."

The animal kung fu masters from China arrived at the café's front entrance, where the doormen let them inside.

Wildcat stepped out from a side room to examine Tai Lung and the others. "Let's see here…." The fat cat smirked, looking over them closely, "You're all strong, proceed up the stairs."

"Yes sir," Po bowed respectfully, as they headed up to their seats.

The Furious Five, Dragon Warrior, and Tai Lung noticed some other toons they had heard about in other seats. There was Judith from the island of the Wild Things, she had accompanied the TDC members when they saved the internet critics back at Starlight Manor, but didn't stay to attend the hunt. There was also the Grand Duke of Owls and Shere Khan. The owl and tiger used to be business partners with Wildcat, but over the past decade both of them had decided to make their own carnivore-friendly restaurants, though they maintained a friendly rivalry with Wildcat.

"Let's see if your Shepard's pie can live to the Duke's," the Duke of Owls smirked to Wildcat as he placed his order.

Viper was eating some cashews that had been given to the kung fu masters, and she accidently bit too hard, resulting in a bandage being put around her head.

"That must hurt," Crane commented.

…..

Around 30 minutes later, several of the customers had been walking around to get a look at everything the Wildcat Café had to offer them.

"Is it almost ready?" Wildcat asked some of his employees about a poster they were making for an upcoming multiverse tour where he would show off new recipes he had prepared.

"Yup, check out front," one of the waiters told his boss.

The fat cat chef stepped outside to get a good look at the big painting that had been created of him, which would certainly catch the eye of anyone stopping at or just passing by the café.

But what Wildcat saw made him frown. "Who did this?" Wildcat demanded to know. Po and Tai Lung, hearing the upset tone in the chef's voice, came out to see what the problem was.

When they looked at the poster, they got the idea. The painting had on a big mustache that obviously wasn't based on the real Wildcat rather rudely made in graffiti on it.

"Did one of you do this?" Wildcat demanded to know of his staff.

"That wasn't us boss," the employees replied quickly, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Wildcat's Chopchop knife.

"What do you think big guy?" Tai Lung asked Po, as they looked at the vandalized portrait, "Think this is another job for us?"

"My brother," Po smiled to the snow leopard, whom he considered to be his brother in everything but blood, "We have another mystery on our paws."

The Dragon Warrior and snow leopard went over to the great chef. "Is there something I can help you with?" Wildcat asked the kung fu masters.

"We'd be willing to offer our services for free," Po explained to Wildcat, "And to clarify, me and my super awesome friends will be able to determine who was the one who messed up this poster!"

"Kung fu detectives eh?" Wildcat smirked, liking the idea already, "You're on the case."

"Let's get the others," Tai Lung said next.

…

Tai Lung and Po went back to their group's table and explained the situation to all of the Furious Five.

"So, we have to figure out who vandalized some advertising?" Mantis asked, "Shouldn't we get going?"

Po paused for a moment before he replied, "I know, but, Chef Wildcat is one of my idols. I really want to help him out and impress him, and this may be my only chance, you guys understand, right?"

Tigress let out a small smile, unusual from her. "Well, he did deem us strong, I guess we could repay him by doing this."

The 7 animals got together to begin to solve the mystery.

"Where should we start looking in terms of suspects?" Viper asked.

"I know who," Po grinned proudly, being able to apply his fanboy knowledge to this mystery, "We should start with the Grand Duke of Owls and Shere Khan. Those 2 used to work with the Duke, but in the past decade they've begun their own people-cooking cafes, though they seem to have a friendly rivalry with each other."

"So, this would go good with their MOs," Viper concurred, "Messing up a poster of one of their competition as a prank, we should go ask them some questions." Viper was licking her sharp, pointy fangs with her tongue, hissing a bit as she did so.

"Let's go," Crane nodded.

…..

The Grand Duke of Owls was the first of the rival restaurant owners the kung fu masters/detectives from China went to question. "Is there something I could help you with?" the big round owl asked the seven friends.

"We were hoping we could ask you some questions, Mr. Grand Duke," Po explained, "Where were you twenty minutes ago?" the Dragon Warrior asked.

"I was still sitting at my table," the Duke replied, he had been given a seat in the VIP section, which was out of view from the regular customers' section, "Eating the dish I had ordered."

The Duke turned to Wildcat with a teasing smirk with his next comment, "Which, if I had to be honest, I would give a 3 out of 5 in my review."

"Ha ha ha," Wildcat laughed sarcastically in response.

"Did anyone see you here?" Tai Lung asked.

"The waiter who delivered my food," the Duke replied, "And what is this all about, anyways?"

"Someone messed up the poster advertising my new tour," Wildcat explained, somewhat annoyed.

"That couldn't have been the Duke," the Duke chuckled, "The Duke can't write or paint with feathers."

The 7 headed to question their next suspect.

…..

Shere Khan was still in the middle of eating his meal when Po, Tigress, Tai Lung, Mantis, Viper, Crane, and Monkey came up to him.

"I've seen you three before," the mighty tiger said about the panda, tigress, and snow leopard.

"Did you go outside within the past half hour?" Mantis asked Khan.

"Just eating my meal," the smug tiger replied slyly, "And I'll admit, it's not that bad,"

"Thanks," Wildcat smiled happily, appreciating the compliment.

"Would you have had any reason to try to sabotage the poster the employees were making for Wildcat's upcoming tour?" Tigress questioned.

"I feel no need to," Shere Khan responded, taking more bites of his lunch, "Since my restaurant is about to unveil a new dish that will put me, the great Shere Khan on the top of the market, that would just be kicking a fellow feline while he's done."

Wildcat laughed sarcastically again, though he still considered the owl and tiger to be friends.

As Po and the others began to talk away from Khan's seat, Po and Tai Lung noticed a small and narrow trail of some black substance going along the ground where they had past.

….

Wildcat started to focus on some deliveries that had to be sent out. His café had begun a takeout policy in the recent years, and since the war had begun, his restaurant was a good place for a lot of the people from his world to get food.

"Ok, let's see, there are orders for Katt, H.R., and Ryu that need to get delivered within an hour," Wildcat told his delivery men.

"Yes sir," they bowed to their boss.

Tai Lung noticed that Judith could not stop eating, and that the Wild Thing had a weird look in her eye, so he felt it would be a good idea to question her.

"Have you been satisfied with your service?" the snow leopard asked Judith.

"Yeah, what about it?" Judith asked, still messily chewing on her food.

"You seemed upset early, can you tell us what it was about?" Mantis questioned the Wild Thing.

"I was only given 7 servings," Judith frowned, "I should have been given a dozen!"

"That would be a big amount even for you, big guy," Tai Lung told Po.

"Thanks for the compliment," Po said sarcastically.

"Maybe you guys should head back outside," Tigress suggested to the Dragon Warrior and his best friend, "Maybe you can find some more clues out there."

"Good thinking dear," Tai Lung nodded to his wife. The duo proceeded outside.

….

Po and Tai Lung walked back towards the Wildcat Tour poster that had been vandalized.

"I'll give the tagger credit," the snow leopard commented, "Whoever he or she is, they have great drawing skills, the mustache that got painted on looks very even."

"So it would have to have been someone who was an artist," Po said, thinking over the suspect list.

Tai Lung got out a ladder and began to get a closer look at the sabotaged poster. Upon close examination, something caught his eye.

"What do you see bro?" Po asked.

Tai Lung looked at where the paint markings had begun. At the beginning and end of each part of the mustache, there were some small holes, as if to indicate something sharp had pierced the poster.

"I think I just found the clue we need to solve the case, Po," Tai Lung informed the Dragon Warrior.

"Awesome!" Po grinned in his fanboy voice again.

…

Po and Tai Lung headed back inside the Wildcat Café. They each had a subtle smirk on their face.

"I take it you two found something important?" Monkey asked. The panda and snow leopard each nodded "yes."

"So, which one was it?" Wildcat asked, "The Duke? Shere Khan?"

"Actually, it was neither," Po replied, surprising the fat feline chef, "The culprit was someone among our very own group!"

"What?!" the Furious Five gasped, eying each other suspiciously.

"The culprit is none other than you…..Viper!" Tai Lung pointed. The serpent kung fu master gasped.

"What? Me?" Viper laughed, "Guys, we've known each other for over a decade now, how could I pull off some graffiti?"

"No hard feelings Viper," Po replied, "But we found some clues that clued us in to how it had to be you."

"But when would I have had the chance to do this?" Viper asked in her defense.

"We were all wandering around earlier," Tai Lung replied, "So you would have a good enough window of time to be able to sabotage the painting."

"I noticed a weird trail of ink earlier," Po explained, "It seemed to be following us wherever we went. Upon a closer look I realized that that black stuff was ink. Since we had been regrouped for a while, you had no real chance to hide it, and even if you did, you had some on your person that you couldn't shake off."

"But how can you be sure it was me?" Viper replied once again, not wanting to be caught in her act, "The Duke, Shere Khan, and even Judith all would have had the same opportunities that I did."

"You bring up a good point," Tai Lung replied, "But there's one clue out there that confirms it had to be you, my friend. When I got a closer look at the sabotaged poster, I noticed some tiny holes in the spaces where the ink began to go into the mustache. I could tell they were teeth marks, something that could only come from someone with thin sharp fangs like yourself could pull off."

Mantis, Tigress, Crane, and Monkey all looked at Viper as the serpent kung fu master sighed, she had been found out.

"It really was you?" Crane asked, surprised, "I was not expecting this."

"Now, since you're a strong one, I won't turn you into food," Wildcat said to Viper, "But, pray tell, why would you do something like this to me?" the fat cat asked.

"Because you put my father out of business," Viper growled.

"What?" the rest of the kung fu master detectives gasped, surprised.

"Ever since my father lost his fangs in battle, he had to take up other jobs in his life, so he established his own restaurant, using criminals he beat in battle. He even started to take his cooking skills between worlds, but when he visited this world, you completely outsold him," Viper explained.

"I remember that," Wildcat said suddenly, "But I wasn't trying to crush his business, I'm always glad to see others trying my profession."

"You know," Shere Khan suddenly spoke up, "I'd be willing to offer your father a position at my café, I have heard of his works."

"You mean it?" Viper smiled appreciatively, "I'll be sure to tell him when we get back to our world."

"If only I could find a phone," Mantis said, "I need to tell the other guys where I've been the past week, they must be worried…."

….

Back in China, one of Lord Shen's servants came running into the throne room of the palace.

"What's the matter?" the peacock leader of Gongmen City asked.

"Our army just received an intelligence briefing," the rabbit servant panted, falling on the floor before he was able to properly conclude his sentence, "There is actually a responsible party for the war!"

"What?!" Shen gasped, running past his loyal soothsayer to read the parchment.

"It couldn't be…" he gasped, as he read the message.


	11. The Library Silenced

**The Toon Files Episode 115: The Library Silenced.**

Back in the real world, Obscurus Lupa had called for the other members of to meet up back at the convention center in Chicago.

"Why'd you call us back here Lupa?" the Nostalgia Critic asked, trying to get the memory of that bad Power Rangers movie out of his head.

"Because we need to help all those characters we met," Lupa replied bluntly, "They saved our lives, it's the least we can do for them."

"And what is your plan, exactly?" Todd in the Shadows asked.

"Send in Linkara's super big spaceship!" Lupa grinned cheerfully.

"That is practical," Phelous nodded.

"But it's gonna take some time," Linkara told his fellow internet reviewers.

"We can wait," the Nostalgia Chick shrugged.

…..

Back in Harrison's lair, he was still examining the events that were going on in certain other worlds.

"Well, it seems that my gifts have been sent," Harrison smirked to himself, setting down his goblet of wine.

The servants came back into Harrison's viewing room, with some reports they had made from their observations.

"The fracture in subspace is getting even bigger sir," one of the servants explained, "The stability is barely able to stay maintained."

"I'll be crossing that bridge shortly," Harrison confirmed to his servants, "But wouldn't you all know how perfect your timing is."

"How come sir?" one of the other servants asked.

"The detective fools are currently on their way to Daguerreo, the library of the water god," Harrison said to his servants.

"What's so important about that place?" one of the servants pondered.

"Well, besides the chameleon bot I had infiltrate their group," Harrison explained, "There was another being I captured because there were 2 of them, in fact."

"Really?" one of the servants smirked, "That's neat, sir."

"Oh more than neat…." Harrison smirked, turning back to his view of the inside of the Highwind.

He next pulled out another communicator. "Prepare to strike," he ordered the being on the other end of the line.

….

Back on the Highwind, the Toon Detective Complex crew were nearing the portal to Terra, which would have Daguerreo, the library they needed to visit.

"This is an area that has been effected by the war," Vincent noted grimly, seeing that the entrances to worlds in nearby portals were showing signs of battle damage, and occasionally emit smoke.

"This may be our last good shot at finding Harrison's location," Jimmy informed his team, "So we can't let it go to waste."

"Good plan," Mokey nodded, climbing onto a control panel so she could be seen better by the others.

"How long until we get there?" Francis asked Cid.

"Less than 5 minutes now, cat," Cid replied to Francis, as they neared the entrance to Terra.

…

**Daguerreo, Terra, 2000.**

The world of Terra had gone through a lot of chaos recently, but the world was finally at peace. A group of young warriors led by Zidane Tribal had saved the world from the threat of Kuja, a genome who had gone power mad, though he was able to redeem himself in his final moments.

The Toon Detective Complex members got out of the Highwind by Daguerreo, which was a big library that had a shrine to the water Eidolon, Leviathan.

"Ah, I hate to get my hooves wet," Twilight frowned, trying to walk along the railing.

Boober and Mokey had made a makeshift raft out of a plastic book cover that had been tossed aside.

"Where do we go from here?" Francis asked Jimmy.

"We talk to the owners," the leader of the TDC replied, "They know where the best sources are."

"Indeed," Zell Dincht nodded, the SeeD from Balamb Garden nodded, visiting Terra to look up some information to pass on the SeeDs still in training, as Zell, Irvine, and Selphie were all instructors at the Garden now.

"I can be a bit swifter," the Baron told his comrades, calling out for Toto to fly him to the upper levels of Daguerreo.

"I would transform back into my dragon form," Haku told the others, "But I think the locals would mistake me for Leviathan."

Dawn suddenly stopped walking, and began to shiver.

"Got cold feet?" Coco joked.

"No….I sense a dark spirit approaching," the possibly psychic girl replied to the bandicoot.

…

Also in the great library at the time were four locals to the world of Terra. Jimmy, Francis, Tifa, Dawn, Haku, Sly, Carmelita, and the others soon bumped into these locals.

They were Zidane Tribal, a genome who had saved his world from destruction, as well as his friends Freya Cresant, a Dragon Knight from the kingdom of Burmecia, Eiko Carol, a summoner from the village of Maidan Sari, and Amarant Coral, a bounty hunter.

Dawn noticed something odd. "Why are you staring at me?" she asked Zidane.

"Cause you're kinda hot," Zidane smirked in reply, he was a bit of a womanizer.

"Now's not the time, Zidane," Freya criticized, the knight poking him with her spear, making him jump up a slight bit, "Dagger wanted us to do some research."

"I'm gonna make my new mom and dad proud," Eiko smiled, the summoner had been adopted recently by Lord Cid and Lady Hilda of the kingdom of Lindblum. She called the various Eidolons with magic flutes.

"I just came for the fresh air," Amarant said sarcastically, the bounty hunter smirking, taping his battle claws along the sides of the big library's walls.

"Nice to meet you all," Jimmy said, pulling out a picture of Harrison, "Hate to seem so abrupt, but we have to ask, have you seen this man?"

The 4 Terrans looked at the photo carefully. "Never seen someone in a suit like that," Zidane replied.

"Can't say I have either," Amarant shrugged, "I've never been called to hunt him."

"Why are you looking for him?" Freya asked the Toon Detective Complex crew.

"Let's just say…he has some questions to answer to," Francis replied, not wanting to cause a commotion.

"Ok then, see ya later," Eiko waved as she, Zidane, Freya, and Amarant walked around Daguerreo.

What the Toon Detective Complex members didn't realize that a signal had been sent to the second chameleon robot, and Harrison had just given the machine an important order.

…..

While some of the detectives were asking locals as well as visitors from other worlds if there had been any trace of Harrison Reiner, a few others were checking out some of the books that filled the halls and rolls of Daguerreo.

"Hey Twilight," Ingrid called to the purple pony, "There's a book that sounds neat on the top shelf, could you grab that one for me?"

"Sure Ingrid," Twilight Sparkle replied, the pony carefully using her hooves to climb up the side of the bookshelf without knocking over any of the other pieces of literature. "Here ya go!"

Ingrid caught the book. "Nice toss," she complimented Twilight.

"Thanks," Twilight replied, as Dawn looked over a book of poetry.

It was then that Jimmy was suddenly contacted on his communicator.

"We got some big trouble here!" Cid called on the other end of the line.

"What's going on?!" Jimmy replied swiftly.

"Someone or something is attacking the Highwind," Cloud informed, grabbing the communicator, "And we can't seem to get a lock on it!"

"Oh my god," Francis gasped, "We have to get back there, guys!"

The other Toon Detective Complex crew members were quick to hear the announcement.

"Do you think this could be Harrison?" Knuckles asked Rouge as the group began to run out of Daguerreo.

"Probably," Rouge nodded, concerned, "But now's not the time for speculation, we have to be ready to fight!"

…

The Highwind was parked just outside of the great library.

Tifa, Cid, Cloud, Barrett, Reeve, Yuffie, Vincent, and Red XII were waiting outside the airship as Jimmy and the others came running up.

"It just came totally out of nowhere," Yuffie freaked, barely able to contain her breath as she explained the situation.

"The other crew members were knocked out," Vincent added.

Knuckles stepped forward, showing off his big fists. "Whatever thing is in there," the echidna smirked, "I'm gonna crush it myself!"

"I'll go see if any of the locals can help us," Francis informed the others quickly, turning to go back into the library, as the cat was not exactly useful in a fight.

Jimmy turned to his friends, as he armed himself with some gadgets. "Everybody, get ready for a fight," he said.

"Bring it on," Fillmore smirked.

…

The detectives raced aboard the Highwind, along with Cloud, Barrett, and Vincent. Cid was running around trying to do some ground repairs on the lower levels of the airship that had been damaged.

Rouge and the Baron took to the skies to see if the mysterious attacker was on the outside deck at the top of the Highwind.

"See anyone?" Rouge asked the magical cat.

"No one yet," the Baron replied, concerned.

In the inside of the airship, Jimmy and the others were looking around carefully, doing their best to avoid potential ambushes.

"Can you see anything ringtail?" Carmelita asked Sly.

"Not yet," Sly replied, using his thieving skills subtly by walking slowly along the side of the wall, not making a noise.

"Do you think the attacker might have fled?" Double D questioned, grabbing some of the battle armor Rarity had made earlier.

"Maybe," Jimmy replied, "But we shouldn't let our guard down."

…..

Back inside Daguerreo, Francis had found Zidane, Freya, Amarant, and Eiko in separate places. He quickly explained what was going on.

"We really need your help," the cat detective said, "And we need it now."

"A fight, eh?" Amarant smirked, "I'm always up for one of those."

"I could summon some Eidolons," Eiko explained.

"It is my duty as a Dragon Knight to aid those in need," Freya nodded as the group began to go down to the entrance level of the water library.

"What exactly is attacking your airship anyways?" Zidane asked as the group ran along.

"We don't know yet," Francis explained, "Our allies were not able to get a good look at the thing in there, but some of our crew have been hurt. We have to hurry!"

Francis and the Terrans raced towards the airship.

…

A few minutes later, the group had split up to cover more ground inside the Highwind.

Jimmy was walking solo down one of the hallways. At first, everything seemed quiet, when he suddenly saw something that surprised him.

The three cloaked figures quickly ran down the hall.

"Halt!" Jimmy called, kicking a soccer ball towards them, but they managed to jump out of the way just in time, and out of sight. The detective from Japan pursued them, but by the time he caught up, they had managed to leave through an emergency escape hatch.

"Damn it," he frowned, but then he remembered that these figures seemed similar to the people the Nostalgia Critic had described a while ago…

…..

Rouge was flying upwards to inspect the damage the attacker had done to the Highwind's upper pieces.

"Can you anything?" the Baron, using Toto to fly as well.

"I'm seeing several small holes," Rouge replied, going forward for a closer inspection. When she did so, something seemed odd.

"They all seem to be in a neat pattern," she realized, as she began to think back to what they had seen earlier that day.

Inside the Highwind, Jimmy caught up with his friends.

"Did you catch him or her?!" Francis asked, seeing the angry look on Jimmy's face probably meant he had had an encounter with the attacker.

"No, I didn't catch them, and there were 3 of them!" Jimmy frowned angrily.

"What?!" the other detectives gasped.

"Jimmy, come in," Rouge spoke up on her communicator.

"What's the situation?" Jimmy quickly replied.

"I found some oddly shaped damage marks at the top of our airship," the lovely bat explained.

"I think the attackers may have gotten away," Jimmy revealed regretfully, "But we're going to have those native Terrans chase after them."

Rouge suddenly gasped upon being told that news.

"Oh no," she said, quickly swooping down towards the inside of the ship, knowing that the others were still in danger….

…

Zidane, Freya, Amarant, and Eiko were walking around the Highwind.

"High tech," Eiko complimented, Terra as a world not being this as technologically advanced.

"Where do we go now?" Tifa asked the others, as Rouge and the Baron came flying back inside.

"I don't know yet…." Francis replied, as Rouge swooped right past the group.

"What's the matter?" Frylock tried to ask, but Rouge headed straight for the Terrans.

"What's the matter?" Freya tried to ask, when Rouge roughly slammed into her, knocking her down.

"Rouge! What's gotten into you?!" Knuckles exclaimed, the entirety of the Toon Detective Complex was baffled by her sudden mood shift.

"Get off of her!" Zidane yelled, trying to pull Rouge off of Freya.

"No, don't stop me!" Rouge shouted in response, "It's because she's the one who was behind the attacks on this ship!"

"What?!" everyone gasped in horrified unison.

"You can't be serious," Eiko said, as Freya got back up, readying her spear in self-defense.

"Look at that," Rouge pointed desperately at Freya's weapon of choice, "Look at the pattern and space between the tips of that spear, it matches perfectly to the damage I've seen done at the top of the Highwind. Only a dragon knight, who has an amazing jump ability will be able to pull this off."

"We did….split up earlier today," Zidane said in recollection.

"You don't think she would actually do this, do you?" Amarant asked, finding the whole situation to be crazy.

"I can prove it had to be her, the spear is evidence enough," Rouge said, taking a fighting stance. Knuckles and some of the others were soon ready to join her in combat.

"But why would you do this, Freya?" Eiko asked, shocked.

"Do you really think I'm Freya?" "Freya" replied, the rat warrior's voice suddenly getting more and more mechanically distorted.

"Huh?" everyone gasped, as the thing that looked like Freya began to take its true form.

"It's a robot!" Francis gasped, as the chameleon bot was now showing its true colors.

"Compliments of Harrison Reiner," the chameleon bot smirked, raising its arm cannons.

"Take cover!" Abigail called. The non-athletic detectives dove out of the way as the chameleon bot began firing around the inside of the airship.

Jimmy, Knuckles, Rouge, Bagheera, Zidane, Eiko, Amarant, Cloud, and Tifa all charged the robot.

"Taste your own medicine!" Cloud yelled, using his buster sword to deflect the gunfire.

Knuckles and Rouge used a double-team move where Rouge lifted her husband high into the air, then he dove down at top speed. With a strong punch, he was able to decapitate the chameleon bot.

"We did it…." Bagheera smiled, the heat of the moment almost getting to him.

…..

Even though the chaos on the airship had been averted, the Terrans had many questions.

"Who's this Harrison Reiner guy?!" Eiko demanded to know.

"He's the one responsible for this war that's been going on," Twilight replied, explaining the situation.

"Wait, you're saying just one guy is the reason all that craziness is going on?" Amarant asked, shocked.

"Yes, and he probably did something to the real Freya," Jimmy realized regretfully.

"How dare this monster!" Zidane growled, pulling out his signature daggers angrily.

"But I think this might've given us a lead," Abigail spoke up.

"How so?" Haku asked.

"Think about it this way guys," the woodmouse replied, "If he was desperate enough to send a copying robot out to kill us, it means we must be getting close to finding out where he is."

"You're right Abigail," Jimmy nodded in agreement with that theory.

"We'll stay in our world," Amarant said, taking one of the pictures of Harrison the TDC members had shown them earlier, "In case he turns out to be hiding somewhere in our world."

"We probably should be getting out of here," the Baron advised his friends, "Harrison is the type where he wouldn't send out just one accomplice, living or mechanical, to try to kill us."

"Good point," Cid said, running back up to the bridge, "This baby is damaged, but I think I can get it out of this world."

Zidane, Eiko, and Amarant hopped off the Highwind and waved goodbye to the Toon Detective Complex members as the Highwind took off into the skies and back to the portal out of their world.

…

At the same time, Harrison had seen the entire battle from the screens in his lair.

"Impressive you took that one down so quickly," he conceded to his opponents, "But my trump card is still to be played…."


	12. My Freaky Valentine

**The Toon Files Episode 116: My Freaky Valentine.**

Po, Tai Lung, Tigress, Mantis, Viper, Crane, and Monkey were just walking out of the Wildcat Café.

"That was an interesting venture," Crane had to admit to the others, eating some leftovers they had taken out of the café.

Tai Lung was walking in front of the others, thought of Shifu still fresh in his head again.

"Baba…I promise, I will avenge you," the snow leopard exclaimed, staring up at the sky.

"Hey Tai Lung," Po said cautiously, approaching his brother warrior, "When we find the killer….what are you going to do with him?"

"What do you mean?" Tai Lung replied.

"I mean…..are you gonna kill the guy?" the Dragon Warrior said next.

"Po….after what this monster did, what other choice do I have?" Tai Lung replied.

"Maybe…..but this just doesn't feel right," Po said in response, "Shifu, as harsh as he could get sometimes, he would never want us to kill someone."

Tigress stood silently, not knowing which viewpoint she really sided with.

"Man, I really need to find a phone," Mantis said to Viper, Monkey, and Crane, "I need to know what the heck is going on with the others!"

…..

As the Highwind traveled through subspace, it was clear that the damage the chameleon bot had caused was leaving lasting impacts.

"I sense a harsh blaze is coming towards us," Dawn commented grimly.

"That's not your powers Dawn," Coco replied, seeing something that Dawn didn't, "The sparks set your hair on fire."

"What?!" Dawn gasped, as the Baron quickly put out the fire.

"We can't stay in subspace for now," Francis told the others, "We're gonna have to find a world we can park this and make repairs."

"Wait a minute," Bagheera noticed, seeing a certain portal not too far off, "I think that's the portal to Wuhu Island, that would be the perfect place to park."

"Nice alliteration," Twilight complimented, as Cid maneuvered the airship that was gradually beginning to come apart into the portal.

…

**Wuhu Island, 2009.**

Everyone likes a good vacation, and Wuhu Island offered several activities that one could enjoy on a nice holiday.

The Highwind landed on the beaches of the main island.

"We're gonna have to be here for at least a day," Jimmy told the other detectives, "So I guess, you all can enjoy yourselves."

"All right!" Abigail and some of the other detectives grinned, taking off to play the sports the tropical resort island had to offer.

"Are you gonna come along Jimmy?" Francis offered his friend politely.

"Nah," Jimmy nodded, "I don't really feel up for it today, not after…..everything that's happened."

"Ok," the cat detective nodded, taking off onto the beach to soak in some rays for his fur.

…

Wuhu Island offered such a variety of activities the detectives were soon spread out far across the island.

"I wanted to give this to you when we got a good time," Knuckles told Rouge in their room at the Wuhu Hotel, revealing a glistening gem.

"Oh, a sapphire," Rouge smiled, hugging the echidna, "You always know what a girl wants."

"From your treasure hunting days you made it easy to guess," Knuckles smirked.

What the couple didn't notice was that there was someone down the hall who had seen the gem, and taken an affixation to it themselves.

"So, I hope everyone's having fun," Rouge said, as she locked the gem safely in her and Knuckles' room, and began to walk outside into the beautiful sun.

"I'm sure they are," Knuckles smirked, "Wanna go on a flight around the island? They're offering free bi-plane rides."

"You got it," Rouge grinned.

…

A lot of the detectives were doing different activites around the island.

The Baron and Haku had entered a swordplay match on Wuhu's swordplay arena, even if it was just plastic swords.

Coco and Dawn had decided to go cycling along the island's roadway.

Sly was hang gliding around the outside of the island.

Frylock, Cloud, Tifa, and Double D had went into Wuhu's bowling alley to play a few rounds, though the twenty-something from the cul-de-sac was still not very athletic.

Carmelita, Bagheera, and Abigail were canoeing in one of the creeks on the island. Everyone was having fun that day, though none of them knew one more case was about to come up….

…

After a nice one hour long flight around Wuhu, Rouge and Knuckles decided to head back inside to get some money to pay for lunch. Wuhu wasn't exactly cheap, you know.

"The café is selling a nice looking shrimp salad," the bat girl detective commented as she headed back into their room, when she noticed something that ticked her off.

"The gem's missing!" Rouge exclaimed, prompting Knuckles to run inside.

"No way, how can this be?!" Knuckles said, quickly looking all over the room to make sure it had not been misplaced.

"I think I may have an idea," Rouge spoke up suddenly, walking over to their window, "Look at this."

"What about it?" Knuckles asked.

"The lock on the window has been busted open," Rouge explained, "Someone must have busted in and stole it."

Around this time, Carmelita was coming back to her room in the hotel when she noticed the commotion the couple was in.

"What's the matter?" the fox Interpol inspector asked.

"We got a thief on our paws," Knuckles explained bluntly.

"All right," Carmelita smirked, "I love chasing thieves." She pulled out her signature shock pistol. "Let's go ask the others if they've seen anything. Wuhu Island is far off the coast from any other land mass. The culprit could not have gone far."

…

Knuckles, Rouge, and Carmelita made their way over to the swordplay coliseum, where the Baron and Haku were locked in another match.

"I won't let you beat me again," the Kohaku river spirit informed the feline.

"Only time can tell," the Baron chuckled, as Carmelita leaped over onto the arena that was high above and surrounded by water. "Whoa, what's gotten into you?" he asked her.

"We're looking for a thief," Carmelita explained, "Someone broke into Rouge and Knuckles' room and stole a gem he had gotten her. We were hoping to see if you guys had seen any suspicious figures in the last hour."

"We were locked in battle, so I can't really recall," the Baron replied, doing his best to remember, "Though I did knock Haku out of the ring once, and it was great."

"I waited 20 minutes before I climbed back up," Haku explained, "I was kind of ashamed of my defeat."

"That was a long time between matches," Rouge noted.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Haku replied.

"Just keep us updated guys," Carmelita called.

…

Near the windmills on the island, Sly was touching down from his paragliding session.

"10 point landing ringtail," Carmelita complimented her boyfriend.

"Thanks Carmelita," Sly smiled, "What have you been up to?"

"We're hunting for a thief, constable," Knuckles replied, "Someone stole a gift I had gotten for Rouge!"

"That sucks," the raccoon responded, "Have you gotten any leads?"

"We wanted to ask if you saw any suspicious figures when you were paragliding," Rouge explained.

"Not really, everyone was the size of ants from where I was," Sly said, "Sorry I couldn't be of more help."

"Don't worry about it Sly," Carmelita assured her partner, "Just, if you see anyone acting suspiciously, report it straight to us, or better yet if you find the gem."

"You got it," Sly nodded, hugging Carmelita.

…

In the town of Wuhu, Dawn and Coco were coming to an end of their bike ride.

"You two look like you've worked up a sweat," Knuckles said to the bandicoot and possibly psychic girl.

"This island's bigger than we thought," Dawn panted, wiping sweat off her brow.

"Say, we were hoping we could ask if you saw anything weird while you were on your ride," Carmelita told the two friends.

"What kind of weird thing?" Coco replied.

"By weird, we mean did you see any suspicious figures," Rouge elaborated, "Because we have a gem thief on the island, and I'm making sure we find out who it is."

"Well, we know it can't have been the people in that van," Coco spoke up.

"What van?" Carmelita asked.

"While we were biking along the road, there was a van in front of us moving slowly. I know this island still had speed limits but it was kind of ridiculous."

"Well that's odd," Carmelita nodded.

"Maybe it was just some old people," Knuckles theorized, "I've seen how they drive, and a tropical place like this is somewhere they'd love to go on vacation to."

"You may have a point there," Dawn nodded.

"Just keep your eyes open," Carmelita advised the girls, "Tell us if you see any suspicious characters."

"Will do," Coco and Dawn nodded.

…

The next spot on the island that Carmelita, Rouge, and Knuckles stopped at was the bowling alley.

Looking at the score pad, it was clear that Frylock was in the lead. The sentient fast food was actually an expert at this game.

"Good game guys," Knuckles complimented the crew, "We were hoping we could ask you some questions."

"About what?" Cloud asked, drinking a soda he had purchased from a vending machine.

"We have a mystery on our hands," Rouge explained to the Toon Detective Complex members who were bowling.

"Of course," Double D sighed, placing his hand on his forehead, "Are we practically cursed to encounter some kind of crime anywhere we go? Is there some kind of force that is guiding us to all these violations of the law everywhere we traverse?"

"Drama queen," Tifa commented.

"Anyways, the case in question is stolen jewelry," Carmelita explained to the others, "Someone stole a gem that was a present from Knuckles to Rouge here, and we've deduced the crook still has to be on Wuhu Island. Did you see any weird ones come into the bowling alley?"

"No, nothing I can remember," Frylock replied.

"I did leave for about 20 minutes to get some snacks after I bowled a perfect zero round…" Double D sighed, "But I didn't see anyone acting like a thief."

"We'll keep in touch," Carmelita replied.

…..

Francis meanwhile walked over to Jimmy. "You know what I just realized," the cat smiled, "According to the calendar, tomorrow is Valentine's Day!"

"Fascinating," Jimmy replied, clearly not interested.

"Jimmy, what's gotten into you?" Francis asked, concerned for his human friend.

"Valentine's day has lost a lot of meaning to me," the detective from Japan replied, "Ever since Rachel and I separated."

"Oh no," Francis frowned, "What happened?"

"She felt I had gotten too focused on mysteries that I abandoned any pretense of doing anything else. The sad thing is….she's probably right."

"Yikes," Francis commented, "I'm sorry I brought this up."

"Don't feel bad," Jimmy replied, "It's not your fault."

…..

After the canoeing session had ended, Abigail had gone tubing in an inner tube off the coast of the beach. Being a woodmouse, she had to hold onto the handle very tightly to avoid slipping into the ocean.

"Need a hand?" Carmelita smirked, pulling the tube closer to the shore where she, Knuckles, and Rouge were.

"I'm not letting my size be a handicap," Abigail replied with a chuckle.

"I hope we can find the gem soon," Rouge replied.

"What gem?" Abigail asked.

"A gift I had got for Rouge was stolen from our room in the hotel," Knuckles explained to the detective from Dapplewood.

"So a case huh?" Abigail responded, getting nods from the other three. "Maybe it something to do with a rope I found earlier."

"What rope?" Carmelita asked, surprised.

"Look over there," Abigail pointed, "I found that floating in the ocean while I was on the tube. I thought it was weird, it must have gotten pushed over here by the currents."

Carmelita went over and examined the rope. There was a detail she immediately noticed: One end of the rope looked like it had been cut, while the other end looked like it had been tied to something a little earlier.

The expression on the fox's face suddenly became a scowl.

"What's the matter?" Rouge asked.

"I know what happened…." Carmelita frowned, an anger forming in her eyes.

…

In the Wuhu hotel, Sly was relaxing, watching the big TV in the hotel lobby. His moment of relaxation was soon cut short when he received a blast from Carmelita's shock pistol.

"What's gotten into you?!" he asked after he recovered from the blast.

"You dirty lying ringtail!" Carmelita accused, "You never really lost your memory this whole time, isn't that right?!"

"Whatever are you talking about?" Sly replied nervously, getting back to his feet.

"Don't play dumb Sly," Carmelita ordered, "I know that you were the one who stole the gem from Rouge and Knuckles' room!"

"That's crazy, Carm," Sly replied, "I'm not a thief, besides, how could I have done such a thing? I was paragliding around the island the whole time, there's no way I could have reached the ground, make it inside the hotel, and get back up into the skies in such a short time period!"

"You almost had me fooled, I'll give you that," Carmelita replied, "But I was able to uncover your trick Sly, I know exactly how you did it!"

"Then elaborate please," the Interpol constable, who was most likely soon to be an ex-officer, demanded to know, "I would like to know how I pulled off this so-called trick."

"You had accomplices," Carmelita revealed, "Namely that old gang of yours. They're on this island, aren't they?"

Sly gulped.

"Dawn and Coco told us how that, while they were riding the bike around this island, there was a van driving slowly in front of them," Carmelita continued, "And I knew your team had a specialized van."

"But what good would that be?" Sly replied in his defense.

"You may have a point in that department Cooper," Carmelita replied, "Your friends being here on Wuhu alone doesn't mean you're responsible for the theft, but the rope Abigail found floating in the ocean waters does!"

"Care to elaborate?" Sly asked, taking his hat off and blushing nervously.

"You can leave your hat on," Carmelita growled, "You see, I know you're skilled with archery, so you shot an arrow tied to a rope down to the van. Your friends tied it to the van, so you could climb down from the hang glider without having it touch the ground, so you'd have an alibi. Once you stole the gem, you climbed back up the rope to get back on the glider, so no one would be the wiser."

It was at that moment that Murray and Penelope stepped out of one of the hotel's rooms, carrying a bunch of sodas. They soon noticed Carmelita looking right at them.

"Um….nice to see you again Carmelita," Murray smiled in a vain attempt to lighten the mood.

"Sorry Sly," Penelope apologized.

"Why did you lie to me?!" Carmelita practically roared, pointing her shock pistol at the thieving raccoon once again.

"I know you might have a hard time believing this, especially after now," Sly finally started to admit, "But for all the lying I've done over the past few years, my love for you is genuine Carmelita, I've always felt you deserved only the best."

"That doesn't explain why you stole my gem," Rouge pointed out.

"It's because I regretted not having enough money for getting you a present for our last anniversary," Sly told Carmelita, "Though I did rob somebody now, back then I had genuinely sworn off the gig and was only going by my wages at Interpol."

Carmelita was still holding her shock pistol towards Sly, but her feelings were very mixed now.

"I don't know Ringtail…." She finally sighed, as Bentley, Dimitri, and the Panda King all came out of the rooms they had reserved at the Wuhu Hotel.

"Tomorrow is Valentine's here in this world," Sly smiled warmly.

….

Back in Harrison's hideout, the criminal mastermind was about to enter the final phase of his plan.

"The message has been sent," Harrison grinned to his servants, "So my game is about to come to a close. Too bad most of those fool detectives won't be alive to see it happen."

The psychopath then laughed loudly, in anticipation of his scheme finally reaching its fruition.


	13. The Story That Ends in the Light

**The Toon Files Episode 117: The Story that Ends in the Light.**

"So, for over a year now you were pretending to have amnesia so you could live with your girlfriend, eh?" Jimmy asked Sly as they were still in the hotel on Wuhu Island.

"Yeah, pretty much," Sly admitted, embarrassed, "I felt bad about having to lie to her for so long, but I knew it was the only way we could be together."

"Yeah, I know where you're coming from," Jimmy nodded sympathetically, remembering the time in his life he had spent as Conan Edogawa, "Living a lie is a stressing thing…."

"What should we do now, Sly?" Bentley asked his friend, as the turtle as well as Dimitri and the Panda King came out of their hotel rooms.

"I really messed up here, guys," Sly admitted to his friends, "You all can help in the investigation in you want, but I think Carmelita and I need to handle this by ourselves."

"You cereal, Cooper fly?" Dimitri asked, his hip hop slang not exactly the best.

"I'm fly," Sly nodded.

"We understand, Sly," the Panda King nodded.

"Cid's been telling me that repairs are almost done on the Highwind," Jimmy told the raccoon thief, "We should gather up everyone.

….

The other members of the Toon Detective Complex were in their rooms at the Wuhu hotel, thinking back over the day, knowing that soon, they would be back on the hunt for Harrison Reiner, and that their voyage was most likely nearing its end.

"I always knew life would be filled with challenges," Abigail sighed, "But sometimes I wish they just didn't have to be this."

"Indeed," Francis nodded to the woodmouse, "But I can promise you this, Abigail, we will capture Harrison and bring an end to this war before the chaos can spread even further."

"I hope you're right," Abigail nodded, as some of the other toons were coming back from the hotel buffet.

"I've noticed we haven't seen Rarity all day," Twilight commented, concerned.

"Oh, you know her," Knuckles replied, "She's very focused on her work, I wouldn't be surprised if she hasn't stopped working on some new armor or weapon for us the past few days."

"Even for Rarity that's not healthy though…" Twilight replied.

"This food is very scrumptious," the Baron grinned, chewing on a piece of steak, "Even if these resort prices are unreasonable…."

"All right guys," Jimmy spoke up to the TDC members, some of whom were watching Amy and Yumi of Puffy perform a concert as Wuhu Island's special celebrity guests of the week, "I've gotten the update from Cid. The Highwind had been repaired, we can take back into subspace."

Carmelita walked back toward Sly. "You do realize what I have to do once our mission is over?" the Interpol inspector asked her potentially ex-boyfriend.

"I know, I know," Sly replied humbly, "But that doesn't mean I won't try to flee again," he added with a smirk.

"Ringtail…." Carmelita chuckled, on the inside being torn about her feelings for Sly. All of the detectives headed for their airship.

…

However, the chameleon bot went over to a private area to make contact with Harrison again.

"When can I make my move, sir?" the chameleon bot asked the criminal mastermind.

"Very soon," Harrison replied over the communicator, "Have you already set the trap?"

"I did so a long time ago sir," the chameleon bot smirked proudly.

"My plans always seem to work out, don't they?" Harrison smirked to the robot, taking a moment to chortle to himself.

"And I have the trigger ready for when you give the signal," the chameleon bot continued.

"And even if that were to backfire," Harrison explained to his accomplice, "I sent out a message. Let's just say….reinforcements may be arriving if need be."

"They probably won't be needed master," the chameleon bot replied, "And I have to get going now, we've all been summoned to return to the airship."

"Just be sure to bring them down," Harrison ordered.

"You got it," the chameleon bot nodded obediently.

…..

A lot of the toons gathered back on the bridge of the Highwind.

"Even the private mini airship in the cargo hold had been repaired," Red XIII assured all of the detectives.

The reveal that a smaller, personal airship was in their grasp suddenly gave Jimmy an idea.

"Something on your mind, Jimmy?" Francis asked his friend.

"There's something I'm considering…" the Japanese master detective replied, "Could we walk and talk, Francis?"

"Certainly," the cat nodded.

Dawn, Coco, and Double D were talking when all of a sudden, Dawn's body began to fill with chills.

"What's the matter?!" Coco exclaimed, concerned for her friend.

"The spirits are giving me an urgent warning," Dawn explained, her pupils shaking, "We are all in grave danger….a dark demon is among us."

"Now calm down Dawn," Double D assured, he was never one to believe in the supernatural, "Perhaps your body didn't adjust to the temperatures back on Wuhu Island properly, and you're just developing a minor fever."

"You have to believe the spirits," Dawn panted in response to the early 20s tech genius from the cul-de-sac.

…..

Po, Tai Lung, and the Furious Five were running out of leads in their search to find Shifu's murderer.

"Let's try this portal guys," Po yawned, as the 7 stepped through it.

When they came out on the other side, they found themselves back in Toon Town.

"Great, just great," Tai Lung frowned.

"It looks like some of the town has been damaged," Viper noted.

"It must have been that war we heard about," Tigress nodded.

"At least since we're in Toon Town," Mantis spoke up, "I finally can get to a phone. I really friggen need to talk to the other guys after how long I've been gone."

"What are we gonna do?" Crane frowned to Tai Lung, "We've lost most leads we got that could have showed who killed Shifu."

"I don't know," the snow leopard replied in a mixture of silent anger and regret, "But we can't give up, we just can't."

"Avatar Korra," Monkey commented, seeing the Avatar and her friends running by, "What's going on?"

"Master Mantis," Korra said to the kung fu master who was also a member of the Toon Detective Complex, "Can you send a message to the others in your crew?!"

"They're right here…." Mantis pointed out, confused.

"I mean the other detectives," Korra said, correcting herself, "The spirit of Aang contacted me and wanted me to warn them that they are all in danger!"

"What?!" Mantis gasped. "We need to get to a phone now!"

…..

A lot of the other detectives on the Highwind were walking around, minding their own business.

"I can't wait to end this war," the Baron yawned, relaxing against the stairwell to the upper level.

"The question is though, will everyone believe us," Bagheera pointed out, "With all the fighting we've seen going on, would they be so ready to accept they had been duped into their conflict?" The panther's concerns would not go away.

Jimmy kept talking with Francis. "Since we know Harrison is hiding in this quadrant of worlds, we have to explore every possibility. And which is why….I'm going to go through the subspace fracture to see if he's on the other side."

"Jimmy, are you sure?" Francis asked, concerned.

"When you've eliminated the impossible…." Jimmy quoted Holmes to Francis, "Whatever left, however improbable, must be the truth."

"I see," the feline detective nodded, "But what if you don't return? You're our leader."

"You all can solve a case without me, I trust you guys," Jimmy assured.

All of a sudden, all of the communicators the detectives were wearing began to emit a weird mist.

"What the?" Haku asked, the mist hitting him and all of the other detectives and Highwind crew members in the face.

Within a matter of seconds, they were all asleep.

…

However, Ingrid and Fillmore, who had their communicators malfunction back when they were investigating the murder case, were still walking around near Rarity's laboratory.

"Ok, this is getting ridiculous," Ingrid said, looking at the closed door, "I'll be kicking it open."

Fillmore stood back as his fellow safety patrol officer knocked open the door to the pony's lab. What they saw inside made them shout in shock.

"She's dead!" Fillmore exclaimed, as they raced over to the body. Ingrid checked her pulse, but the corpse had decayed enough at this point it was clear there was no hope.

"We have to tell everyone now!" Ingrid said, as they rushed out of the lab. It only took a few seconds before they found the Baron passed out against the stairs.

"Wake up," Fillmore said, shaking the cat, but the sleeping mist had knocked the magical cat figurine practically out cold. "Dog," he frowned.

"Something's wrong guys!" a voice suddenly called, it was Twilight's. The purple pony ran up to the safety patrollers, "Everyone's been knocked out!"

"What should we do?" Ingrid asked Twilight.

"Search to find everyone we can, we may be under attack," Twilight explained.

The two safety patrollers started to run in the opposite direction, when Fillmore suddenly stopped. "Hold up," he said suddenly.

"What's the matter?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, how come the three of us are still standing?" Fillmore replied.

"Luck, I guess," Twilight shrugged in reply.

"I don't think so," Fillmore replied matter of factly, "I think there's something up here, and I think you are the one to blame!"

"What?!" Twilight gasped, shocked.

"I see where you're coming from," Ingrid nodded, "Back at that high school prom, our communicators were broken when punch got spilled on them. And there seems to be traces of some kind of mist or steam coming from everyone's communicator." Ingrid was examining the Baron currently.

"And then I remembered that robot that attacked us back at the library," Fillmore continued, "How it was posing as another person. And then that got me thinking about something else…..Twilight, when you picked us up from X, you used your magic to get an item off the top shelf back at the complex. But when we were in Daguerreo, you climbed to the top shelf to get a book Ingrid wanted to see. Why didn't you just use your magic?"

"Because robots can't copy magic," Ingrid concluded on behalf of her friend, "You're not the real Twilight Sparkle, aren't you?!"

Suddenly, Twilight began to laugh, and her voice became a lot more mechanical. Indeed, it was actually a chameleon bot which had copied Twilight's form. "Very good job, officers," the chameleon bot complimented, still using the pony form, "But alas, we all know how this has to end."

"Yeah, with us stopping you!" Fillmore pointed.

"No….this must end with you dying!" the chameleon bot roared, charging the two, its' horn pointed sharply towards them.

"JUMP!" Ingrid exclaimed, the two safety patrollers just barely able to dodge getting impaled.

"What are we gonna do?" Fillmore quickly asked Ingrid as the chameleon bot replaced one of its hooves with an arm cannon.

"We have to do something before someone gets shot," was all Ingrid could reply with.

"Time for you to dance," the chameleon bot laughed, firing bullets their way. Fillmore and Ingrid took cover behind some of the arches in the Highwind.

"We're running out of time," Fillmore frowned, panting nervously.

The next thing the chameleon bot did was fire several rounds at the airship's communications system. It stepped out of the way of the sparks that hit the ground.

"I have an idea," Fillmore suddenly whispered to Ingrid.

As the chameleon bot was finished shooting the system, it noticed Fillmore standing at the end of a narrow platform.

"I'm one big bullseye," Fillmore called, "Charge at me, I dare you."

"It's your own funeral," the chameleon bot replied, aiming its horn towards the safety patroller, and began to charge.

Ingrid looked worried at what was about to happen, but at the last possible second, Fillmore jumped out of the way, causing the robot's horn to go through a wall of the airship, causing it to get brutally electrocuted.

"YAAAAGGGHHHH!" the chameleon bot exclaimed as several thousand volts went through its system, short circuiting it entirely, causing the chameleon bot to finally be destroyed.

"Nice going," Ingrid smiled, relieved.

…..

Once the chaos was over, Ingrid and Fillmore began to wake up all of the other Toon Detective Complex members.

"What happened?" Abigail asked, rubbing her eyes.

"Harrison almost got us all," Fillmore informed the others, "A robot took Twilight's place and must have killed Rarity a while ago. When she wasn't looking, the robot implanted the sleeping mist into the communicators."

"We all would've died if Fillmore and I didn't have ours jammed," Ingrid nodded.

"That monster…" Jimmy growled about Harrison, "I'm going to find him now!"

"How are you going to do that Jimmy?" Dawn asked their leader.

"I'm heading into the subspace fracture," Jimmy informed the others. They all gasped upon this revalation.

"But Jimmy, how do you know that that's safe?" Sly asked.

"I don't, that's why I'm going into this alone," Jimmy informed his fellow detectives, "Please, don't follow."

The detective from Japan headed towards the private mini-airship. "And if I don't return," he added suddenly, "Tell Rachel I love her and that she was right about what she said…."

The others could only nod as Jimmy took off.

….

Korra, Po, and the others ran into the Toon Town Police Station, where Rabbit and Fox's kids were currently waiting in the front desk area.

"What's going on?" the third youngest rabbit asked.

Mantis only replied by rushing over to a phone and quickly dialed up a number of one scientist he knew well.

"Hello?" Double D asked, answering his phone back on the Highwind.

"Double D, it's Mantis, look, I'm so sorry I've been out of commission for the past week, we were hunting Shifu's killer, and now there's some sort of war going on…."

"Calm down, calm down," Double D replied more calmly to the insect kung fu master, "The war was all because of Harrison Reiner. He and an accomplice pulled off a series of crimes that framed all the worlds, leading to this bloody conflict between them all. We've been trying to track down Harrison and expose him to all the worlds once and for all, but we haven't found him yet." Double D explained the quadrant of worlds they were able to narrow it down to.

"Wait a minute….." Mantis realized, thinking back to earlier in their travels, "Double D, I'll have to call you back!"

"Mantis, where are you going?" Tai Lung called.

"We have to get back to the café!" Mantis replied.

….

"That was weird how fast he hung up," Double D commented, putting his cell phone back in his pocket.

"I wonder why," Coco shrugged.

Suddenly, catching all of the Highwind's crew and the detectives off guard, the airship began to shake.

"What the hell was that?!" Francis yelled, as he regained his footing.

"Something's firing on us!" Cid called in reply, rushing down from the bridge, "And we can't give out a distress call!"

"The chameleon bot…." Ingrid realized with anger, "That's why it smashed the communications. Whatever is happening now must be one of Harrison's plans!"

"I think we can take down a single airship with our might," Tifa said confidently.

"Who said anything about there being just a single enemy?" Carmelita said grimly, stepping down from the deck. Some of the toons ran out, and what they saw made a of their hearts drop. There were over a dozen battle airships readying their weapons, all pointed towards the Highwind.

"How could this happen?!" the Baron gasped.

…

Harrison was watching what was transpiring with utter glee from cameras he had installed on some of the army's airships.

"Right on time to, I admire a punctual crew," Harrison chuckled, though his plan with the chameleon bot failed, his backup scheme was in his words, more foolproof.

Over the past few days, Harrison had sent fake messages to the leaders of the armies of the worlds most heavily involved in the war, claiming to be TDC members and saying that it was a series of crimes orchestrated by a criminal mastermind….who was travelling on the Highwind.

"I can't leave before the final act's finished," Harrison said to his servants, "And even though I've received spoilers on how this ends, it still needs to be seen to be believed…."

"Yes sir," the servants bowed. Since Harrison hadn't made any big orders in the past day, he let the servants mostly do whatever they wanted, and since they weren't really on guard, they didn't notice three figures descending towards Harrison's hideout….

…

Jimmy had been out of the battleships sight and surrounding area in the mini airship, so he didn't realize what was happening with his team.

The detective approached the subspace fracture, which was a bright glowing light.

Jimmy slowed the airship down for a moment and took a deep breath. "Here goes nothing…" he said to himself, accelerating towards the fracture and disappearing into the light.

…..

Once he passed through the fracture, Jimmy's eyes opened and he looked around at his new surroundings. What he saw surprised him. Jimmy was in a fair normal looking building. From the various rooms filled with desks, computers, and 20-somethings with backpacks, Jimmy determined he was in some kind of college campus.

"Well, this wasn't what I was expecting," Jimmy said to himself, looking around the building. "I wonder what this place is."

Jimmy didn't see anybody he recognized in this world, so he looked for clues that would reveal his current location. Across from the subspace fracture he had emerged from, there was a laptop computer.

"Maybe I can find something online," he thought, going over and looking at the screen. On this computer was a word document, which currently read this…..

…

**The Toon Files Episode 117: The Story that Ends in the Light.**

"So, for over a year now you were pretending to have amnesia so you could live with your girlfriend, eh?" Jimmy asked Sly as they were still in the hotel on Wuhu Island.

"Yeah, pretty much," Sly admitted, embarrassed, "I felt bad about having to lie to her for so long, but I knew it was the only way we could be together."

"Yeah, I know where you're coming from," Jimmy nodded sympathetically, remembering the time in his life he had spent as Conan Edogawa, "Living a lie is a stressing thing…."

….

"What the hell?!" Jimmy gasped, seeing that somebody had written down what had happened to him the past day as if it were a story. He scrolled down further into the document, and it stopped with him looking at the laptop.

"What….what is going on?"

Just then, a young man in his 20s came around the bend, holding a pop he had purchased from a vending machine, when he saw Jimmy standing by his laptop.

"Um…..holy crap," the man said, looking at one of his favorite characters standing a few feet in front of him.

"What's going on, where am I?" Jimmy asked, wanting answers.

"I think….I think I just broke reality," the young man replied, trying to come to grips with was happening.

"Who are you?" Jimmy demanded to know.

"I'm the guy who wrote The Toon Files series, a big fanfic project I spent like 2 years on."

"Fanfiction?" Jimmy asked, "What do you mean?"

"What I mean…" the writer began to reply, wanting him and Jimmy to remain as calm as possible, "You're a character from an established franchise that I used in my story."

"You mean….I'm just a story?" Jimmy gasped, beginning to have an identity crisis.

"Look, could we talk in private?" the young man asked, leading Jimmy into one of the empty class rooms.

…..

The kung fu masters raced back to the Wildcat Café.

"This mouse tempura is very good," Shoukichi complimented, the tanuki was on a dinner date to the café with his wife.

"Yup, it's very yummy," Okiyo nodded to Wildcat.

Mantis ran over to Wildcat. "Can we ask you something sir?" he panted.

"Yes, strong ones," the fat cat nodded.

"When you said one of the customers who was having being delivered to was named "HR", did that stand for Harrison Reiner?" Tai Lung asked.

"Why yes, where'd you here that?" Wildcat asked. Since most of the world hadn't heard of Harrison before the war, the criminal felt safe using his real name in Wildcat's world.

"We have to find out where he is!" Tigress exclaimed.

"He's the reason all of this war madness is happening!" Po gasped, the Dragon Warrior nearly out of breath from all the running he had been doing.

"Well, why didn't you say so?!" Wildcat replied, "Servers, guide the way!"

…..

Vincent, Barrett, and Carmelita, the ones among the group who were armed with some sort of firearm did their best to defend the Highwind.

"This is effed up!" Barrett growled, his arm cannon firing like crazy.

"But what can we do?" Carmelita replied, taking cover from some of the battle airship's fire, "We have no way to communicate with them, and for one reason or another they believe we're the enemy!"

Carmelita's shock pistol managed to stun the commander of one of the ships. Subspace was locked into battle, and it wasn't exactly in the Highwind's favor.

"We have to end this somehow," Vincent said, using a sniper rifle, he wasn't as rapid fire as the others were.

…

In reality, Jimmy and the writer of the Toon Files were still having their conversation.

"But what about those internet critics we brought from the real world?" Jimmy pointed out.

"Those aren't the actual people," the young man explained, "Those are their online personas they play up for the camera, I'd recommend checking their videos out, by the way…."

"And what about the fracture in subspace?" Jimmy asked next.

"Well, this is to be the final batch of cases," the writer replied, "I'll admit, I'm running out of ideas for the series, so I felt it would be the right time to end it. Maybe the fracture was me writing my writer's block into it."

"You mean nothing I do matters, because I'm just a story?" Jimmy frowned.

"No, no, don't think like that," the young man said, realizing he was not helping this situation at all. "Listen…."

"Wait," Jimmy suddenly responded, "If you are the one who wrote all our adventures, you know what happens, right?"

"Yes," the writer nodded.

"Then could you tell me who the 3 cloaked figures are?"

"Well," the writer replied, "Since this is the final season, I thought it would be a real cool twist if….."

….

Harrison now felt confident his plan would succeed, so he let all of his servants go off.

"Time to get into reality," Harrison smirked, "And delete the story." Thanks to 4th wall awareness, Harrison knew what was on the other side of the subspace fracture.

As the criminal mastermind was starting to head out of his mansion, whistling a tune to himself.

But as he was exiting the grounds, 3 cloaked figures appeared before him.

"Who the hell are you?!" Harrison demanded to know.

"You really don't remember us?" one of the cloaked figures asked in mock surprise.

"You left an impact on all of our lives," the second figure said.

"And we felt it was time to give you our thanks," the third added, and then they pulled off their cloaks.

The first figure was none other than Jari, a former servant of King Caltrin who killed some of the royal family because of their involvement in a drug ring which killed her mother (and Harrison made possible). "Hi," Jari smirked in a dark smile.

The second was Isaac Campbell, the wolf who was the killer at the mountain villa murder spree witch happened twice over the past 30 years. "We found out what you did to all of us."

The last cloak turned out to be Vivian Thompson, the fox who was the killer at the detective tournament at the Toon Town Grand Hotel 10 years ago. "The battles your wars caused allowed us to break out of jail. We did some research, and we found out what we had in common," she said, pacing back and forth.

"You've already ruined our lives and made us murderers," Jari said, as the 3 pulled out either a knife or a gun.

"So, once we figured out what you did, we felt, why not kill you?" Isaac grinned. Harrison had not armed himself, thinking there would be no need.

"So it's time you pay!" Vivian screeched, shooting Harrison in the shoulder.

"AGH!" Harrison cried, falling to the ground.

"We're gonna make sure you suffer….." Jari said flatly, the trio descending towards Harrison.

…..

The Highwind was taking more and more hits, and Carmelita and the others knew they wouldn't be able to win the fight.

Haku quickly turned into his dragon form. "I can take some of us out of here and to safety in another world!" the river spirit informed quickly.

Cid called for the youngest members to get out first. Double D, Abigail, Coco, and Dawn got on the dragon's back.

"Carmelita, get on now!" Sly called, very concerned.

"Sly, but, you're the younger one between us…" the Interpol inspector pointed out.

Sly suddenly pulled Carmelita into a hug. "I won't let you die here, you have to go…..please."

"Sly…I…." Carmelita started to say, when there was a surprising interruption.

Outside in subspace, the Toon Detective Complex members suddenly had allies show up to aid them.

Bentley was controlling a modified Cooper van that had been suited for flight, with Panda King launching some of his fireworks to stop the battle airships' cannons.

"Fireworks, aid our cause," the Panda King said, shooting more.

"Let's light this candle," Penelope grinned.

Emerging from a portal was none other than Dojo, with Rabbit and Fox riding on top of his two heads.

"Put a flame barrier around the Highwind!" Fox instructed.

"You got it miss," Dojo nodded, the dragon who devoured his own world blew out a sphere of protective flame around the airship.

And most unexpectedly, flying out from another portal was Twilight Sparkle, accompanied by Belladonna the hellhound!

"Use your powers, my apprentice," Belladonna encouraged.

"Yes mistress," Twilight nodded, her usual Pegasus wings had been replaced with devilish bat wings. Twilight used her powers to take down more of the weapons.

"What on earth…." Ingrid gasped.

The TGWTG critics even showed up, using Linkara's spaceship to protect the Highwind.

"I got enjoyment out of this day," the Nostalgia Critic admitted.

…

"Look Jimmy, a story isn't meaningless," the young man said to him back in the real world, "Why do you think people write fanfiction in the first place? It's because we love the source material. I mean, my stories weren't exactly huge hits, but I kept making them because I loved all the movies, shows, and games I used."

"But what am I to do then?" Jimmy asked.

"You get to live your life how you choose," the young man shrugged, "Since you're no longer bound by the story, you and everyone else can do what you want, like how fanfic writers like to think of what happens once the canon story concludes."

"Then what have I been moping about just now?" Jimmy grinned, his confidence renewed, "I have to go save my friends."

"You know where to go," the young man nodded, as Jimmy headed towards the subspace fracture leading back into the realm of fiction.

After Jimmy entered, the fracture disappeared from the real world. "Ok….that is the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me," the write commented, pinching himself to make sure this wasn't a dream.

…..

Jari, Isaac, and Vivian did quite a number on Harrison.

"I hope after all the pain you've dished out in the world, that you have an appetite for some given to you," Vivian grinned sadistically.

"Please…." Harrison begged at his most valneurable, "I….I don't want to die…."

"Everyone else has left," Jari said, stabbing the criminal in some non-fatal but still painful spots, "And there's no way you could bring yourself to safety now."

"Shall should we take off?" Isaac asked the girls. The three former masterminds were prepared to start anew and get new identities and live non-crime filled lives in some random world. This would be their final act of violence.

"Yeah, we did the deed," Vivian nodded.

"Let's go," Jari called, the three getting in a car that belonged to Harrison, after they got one more look at the defeated mastermind.

The trio drove off.

"I….I can't lose," Harrison groaned in pain, seeing some other figures approach. "Please…..please help me…"

"Why should we help you?" Mantis asked. Harrison looked up to see that it was in fact, the Jade Palace masters before him.

"Yo….you…" Harrison gasped, realizing these were people his plan to start the war had affected.

"So, we finally found you, you're the one who killed Shifu," Tigress growled, barely resisting the urge to end him that second.

"What are we gonna do with him?" Viper asked the others.

"Po, let's do this together," Tai Lung told the Dragon Warrior.

"You got it bro," Po nodded.

"Ah, you're going for that…." Crane and Monkey realized.

"For what?" Harrison panted, filling with fear.

Po and Tai Lung each raised a paw. "The Wuxi finger hold," they replied, and then their paws tapped him.

The move obliterated Harrison once and for all.

…

Going back into the subspace fracture deposited Jimmy on one of the battle airships that had been firing on the Highwind.

The airship was Shen's, the peacock ruler of Gongmen City wanted to help end the war after being fooled by the false letter.

"Detective Kudo," Shen gasped, surprised, "What brings you here?"

"You have to stop firing," Jimmy explained to the peacock, "The members of the Toon Detective Complex are on that airship!"

"What?!" Shen and his army gasped.

With Shen's help, all of the battleships were called off.

Because it was badly damaged, Dojo and Haku in his dragon form guided the Highwind safely back to Toon Town.

…..

Mantis and the other Jade Palace masters met up with everyone outside the Toon Town police station.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Rabbit and Fox's children smiled, running over to their parents and tackling them to the ground.

"Great to see you guys again," Rabbit smiled happily.

"So, where's my reward?" Dojo's left head demanded to know, the dragon floating above everyone else.

"What reward?" Francis asked, puzzled.

"in exchange for letting us out and helping stop the war, we kinda had to promise Dojo that his stomach could be a new prison," Fox admitted, mildly embarrassed.

"And I can't wait to gulp down all those tasty prisoners," Dojo's right head grinned.

"So what exactly happened to you Twilight?" Ingrid asked the now-hellhorse.

"The chameleon bot didn't quite kill me," Twilight explained, "Instead it knocked me out and ragged me to Belladonna's world. I had to agree to help her out before I could get the power to leave. Don't worry, I'm just torturing the already corrupt souls," she smiled innocently.

"Ok….." Fillmore replied, concerned.

As Sly was talking with his gang, Carmelita walked over.

"You know…I never got the chance to file the report on you to Interpol," Carmelita smiled to Sly, "They won't have to know about your fake amnesia, ringtail."

"You mean…." Sly smiled happily.

"Yes Sly," Carmelita nodded, "You're still a constable and my partner." The couple kissed again, they were finally back together.

"How adorable…" Abigail grinned.

Carmelita suddenly frowned, "But lie to me EVER again, and I'll shock you worse than a thunder storm!" She smiled warmly right after that.

"It was nice meeting all of you," Linkara told the toons.

"Thanks for helping us Lupa, all of you," Dawn bowed.

"Don't mention it, after all, you helped us," Lupa and JO replied.

"Too bad we never got to meet Batman," the Blockbuster Buster sighed.

"Hey Jimmy," Francis called, "There's someone here who wants to see you…"

Jimmy looked up to see Rachel standing in front of him. "Rachel?" he smiled warmly.

"Oh Jimmy," Rachel smirked, running over to him and hugging, "Francis told me all about what you did for the multiverse, I'm so proud of you…."

"And you were right Rachel," Jimmy nodded, admitting his error, "As great as solving mysteries is, there are some things more important in life." He leaned in close and kissed Rachel warmly on the lips.

"It's gonna take some time for all the worlds that got damaged in the war to be fixed," the Baron noted, looking around the damaged parts of Toon Town.

"But this can be fixed," Knuckles and Rouge nodded assuredly.

Jimmy looked up to the sky, at what looked like to everyone else be nothing at all, but Jimmy knew the truth, "We have all our lives ahead of us guys," Jimmy smiled to his fellow detectives and other toons, "But for now, case closed."

….

And with that, the young man who wrote the Toon Files fanfiction series wrote the final sentence in the story.

"Wow, I'm done, after all this time," the young man said to himself, surprised that this day had finally come.

He looked over at the clock at his laptop and realized it was almost time to get to his next course.

Before he put his computer in his backpack he looked at the screen and said one word to a person he knew couldn't hear him, but felt it right to say.

"Thanks."


End file.
